The letter below, co-ordinated by GSA members, highlights the damaging impact of growing corporate involvement linked to the provision of charitable food aid.
It was published in The Observer newspaper, UK, on Sunday 26th March 2023, and was supported by 180 signatories from across the world.
Guaranteeing food for all
The extraordinary efforts of food bank teams, increasingly backed by corporate involvement, should not blind us to the fact that an emergency food parcel cannot do more than temporarily alleviate hunger.
The latest plea for an Essentials Guarantee from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Trussell Trust and others is testament to the reality that growing reliance on food banks, backed by surplus food redistribution, is an ineffective substitute for poverty-reducing policies.
All 38 member countries of the OECD now rely on a privatised charitable food aid model often dependent on volunteer labour. The ubiquity of corporate food charity in high-income countries should provide a stark warning.
The European Federation of Food Banks and the Global Foodbanking Network now collectively operate in 76 countries, including low and middle income states. Their mission is to expand “the presence and influence of food banks all over the world”, further anchoring corporate charitable food aid provision as a means to address hunger through surplus food redistribution.
While the expansion of organised surplus food redistribution might seem like a win-win solution, this practice fails to reduce food waste levels while undermining policies designed to address food insecurity.
We need real, long-term solutions based on rights and social justice. Only governments can guarantee these rights. Adopting a ‘cash first’ approach to food insecurity is vital to ensure people can access income before charity, but equally vital is the prioritisation of systemic changes to truly tackle poverty and inequality.
Guaranteeing the Right to Food and a Living Income through real living wages, together with adequate social security provision, is essential to ending the need for charitable food aid in all societies.
Signatories:
Dr Kayleigh Garthwaite University of Birmingham
Professor Graham Riches, University of British Columbia
Sabine Goodwin, Independent Food Aid Network
Professor Valerie Tarasuk, University of Toronto
Professor Janet Poppendieck, City University of New York
Professor Martin Caraher, City University of London
Professor Liz Dowler, Warwick University
Kath Dalmeny, Sustain
Professor Mariana Chilton, Drexel University
Mark Winne Author, Closing the Food Gap
Dan Crossley, Food Ethics Council
Peter Kelly, The Poverty Alliance
Professor Tiina Silvasti University of Jyvaskyla
Andy Fisher, Author of Big Hunger
Dr Sinead Furey, Ulster University
Professor Rebecca de Souza, San Diego State University
Dr Joshua Lohnes Center for Resilient Communities, West Virginia University
Professor Adam Pine, University of Minnesota Duluth
Professor Elaine Power, Queen’s University
Professor Molly Anderson, Middlebury College
Alison Cohen, National Right to Food Community of Practice
Professor Annie Bellows, Syracuse University
Deirdre Woods, Granville Community Kitchen
Dr Charlotte Spring, Wilfrid Laurier University
Victoria Williams, Food Matters
Dr Helen Crawley
Professor Pat Caplan Goldsmiths, University of London
Professor Jon May, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Dave Beck, University of Salford
Dr Andy Williams Cardiff University
Imogen Richmond-Bishop
Dr Madeleine Power, University of York
Dr Clare Pettinger, University of Plymouth
Professor Stephanie Lemke, University of Natural Resouces and Life Sciences, Vienna
Professor Ernie Lightman, University of Toronto
Dr. Rod MacRae, Food Policy Analyst
Dr Adrienne Chambon University of Toronto
Audrey Tung, PhD candidate, University of Victoria
Professor Sabine Pfeiffer, Friedrich Alexander University
Sofia Monsalve, FIAN International
Dr. Kate Haddow, Newcastle University
Dr. Gizem Templeton, World Food Policy Center, Duke University
Professor Davide Marino, Universita di Molise
Francesca Benedetta Felici, Universita di Molise
Dr Tammara Soma, Simon Fraser University
Dr Amaia Inza-Bartolome, University of the Basque Country
Professor Mabel Gracia-Amaiz, University of Rovira i Virgili
Professor Leire Escajedo San Epifanio, University of the Basque Country
Dr Igor Filibi, University of the Basque Country
Dr Karlos Perez de Armino, University of the Basque Country
Dr Ainhoa Lasa Lopez, University of the Basque Country
Professor Stephan Lorenz, University of Jena
Professor Fabian Kessl, University of Duisburg-Essen
Professor Holger Schoneville, University of Hamburg
Ville Tikka, PhD Researcher University of Jyvaskyla University
Professor Vesna Leskosek, University of Ljublijana
Dr Christophe Golay, Geneva Academy
Dr Sue Booth, Flinders University
Dr Michael O’Brien, University of Auckland
Dr Katharine Cresswell, Riol Food Poverty and Social Justice
Professor Mustafa Koc, Toronto Metropolitican University
Professor Tim Stainton, University of British Columbia
Professor Miu Chung Yan, University of British Columbia
Professor Jay Smith, Athabasca University
Prfessor Ken Collier, Athabasca University
Professor Jim Harding, past Director School of Human Justice, University of Regina
Moe Pramanick, Community Mobilization Coordinator FoodShare Toronto
Dr Jennifer Black, University of British Columbia
Ian Marcuse, Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks
Laura Castrejon Violante, University of British Columbia
Professor Rebecca O’Connell, University of Hertfordshire
Professor Gary Craig, University of Newcastle
Dr Naomi Foyle, University of Chichester
Professor Donna Baines, University of British Columbia
Tim Li, PROOF Research Program Coordinator University of Toronto
Professor Marit Rosol, University of Wuerzburg
Dr Kathryn Machray, University of Glasgow
Rowan Burdge, BC Poverty Reduction Coalition
Dr Daniel Warshawsky, Wright State University
Alana Haynes Stein, University of California Davis
Paul Taylor and Laetitia Eyssartel, co-CEOs Evening and Weekend Consulting Toronto
Professor Julia Brannen, University College London
Dr Christina Pollard, Curtin University
Dr Timo Sedelmaier, University of Tuebingen
Miroslav Budimir, University of Ljublijana
Professor Kate Pickett, University of York
Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick, Ulster University
Dr Stephen Crossley, Durham University
Dr Andrea Gibbons, Food For Life Get Togethers
Ben Pearson, Food Poverty Campaigner
Professor Martha Jackman, University of Ottawa
Professor Evelyn Forget, University of Manitoba
Dr Hayley Bennett, University of Edinburgh
Stephen Bartlett, Sustainable Agriculture Louisville
Andrew Kang Bartlett, Food in Neighborhoods Community Coalition
Leonida Odongo, Haki Nawiri Africa
Herman Kumara, National Fisheries Solidarity Movement
Lea Winter, FIAN Switzerland
Nurul Alam Masud, Food Security Network – KHANI Bangladesh
Joanthan Peuch, FIAN Belgium
Mugove Walter Nkiya, ReSCOPE Programme
Ahmed Sourani, Gaza Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP)
Joseph Schechla, Housing and Land Rights Network, Habitat International Coalition
Judith Hitchman, URGENCI International Network of Community Supported Agriculture
Ashka Naik, Corporate Accountability
Pramesh Pokharel, All Nepal Peasants Federation
Andrea Ferrante, Schola Campesina
Omar Aziki, ATTAC CADTM Morocco
Alison Katz, People’s Health Movement
Marisa Macari, El Poder del Consumidor
Juan Carlos Morales Gonzalez, FIAN Colombia
Sophie D.Ogutu, World March of Women Kenya
Patrice SAGBO, ADeD, Benin
Sophea Chrek, Social Action for Community and Development
Philip Biswas, Rural Reconstruction Foundation
Amparo Miciano, National Rural Women Coalition
Danny Carranza, Kilusan Para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungan Panlipunan (Katarungan)
Mohamed Hakech, Fédération Nationale du Seceur Agricole
FNSA/MAROC, Morocco
Daoude Ndiaye, CNPS Senegal
Tammi Jonas, Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance
Abdallah Mkindi, TABIO
Professor Ruth Hall, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Jordan Treakle, National Family Farm Coalition
Betsy Garrold, Food for Maine’s Future
Christina Wong, Northwest Harvest
Professor Aaron Reeves, Oxford University
Professor Paul Havemann
Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South
Alon Shepon, Israeli Forum for Sustainable Nutrition (IFSN)
John Peck, Family Farm Defenders
Dr Kathryn Teigen De Master Berkeley University of California
Mauricio Saraya Ley, Alianza por le Sud Alimentaria
Katie Sandwell, Transnational Institute
Professor Jeff Collin, University of Edinburgh
Antonio Tovar, Farmworkers Association of Florida
Ali Aznague, Siyada Network for Popular Sovereignty over Food and Resources
Alimata Traore, COFERSA Mali
Dr Sue Kleve, Monash University Convenor S.H.A.R.E Collaboration
Heather Day, Community Alliance for Global Justice
Ruchi Schroff, Navdanya International
Magali Cano, Guatemala Sin Hambre
Johanne Scheepmans, Mouvement d’Action Paysanne
Nora McKeon, Terra Nuova
Brazilian Alliance for Healthy and Adequate Food
Karyn Moskowitz, Executive Director, New Roots and the Fresh Stop Markets
Yildiz Temürtürkan, World March of Women
Sofía Castellanos, Alianza por la Salud Alimentaria (Alliance for Nutritional Health)
Dr Mira Shiva, Initiative for Health & Equity in Society
Paulina Solis, ASEED Europe, Amsterdam
NGO ADIG MAURITANIA, MOHHAMED BNEIJARA PRESIDENT
Anna Veilon, Enda Pronat
FIAN Portugal
Magdalena Ackermann, Society for International Development (SID)
Joana Rocha Dias, ACTUAR – Association for Cooperation and Development
Klara Knapp, Solidarity Sweden Latin-American/Latinamerikagrupperna
Tozie Zokufa, Coalition of African Animal Welfare Organisations CAAWO
Paolo Venezia M., Slow Food Roma
Ibrahima Seck, Federation Nationale pour l’Agriculture Biologique FENAB
Penny Walters, expert by experience
Kenyan Peasants League
Andrea Pinto, Habitando Fundación Habitando Conservación
Alison Blay-Palmer, UNESCO Chair on Food Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies
Robin Burgess
Dr Lopamudra Patnaik Saxena, Coventry University
Dr Alison Briggs, University of Manchester
Prof Lisa Scullion, University of Salford
Adrienne Montani Executive Director First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society
Meredith Kerr, Parkdale Food Centre Ottawa
Dr Bradley Wilson, WVU Center for Resilient Communities
Dr Angela Babb, Indiana University Ostrom Workshop
Rachel Blais Executive Director, Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre
Professor Margot Young, University of British Columbia
Kemi Akinola, Be Enriched
Councillor Jane Corbett, Deputy Mayor for Fairness and Tackling Poverty, Liverpool
Harry Morgan, This is Rubbish
Graham Whitham, Greater Manchester Poverty Action
Jane Middleton, Labour Hunger Campaign