Extra food ? Don’t Waste. Feed the needy, Donate it to FSSAI

At parties, festivals we have a tendency to make extra delicious food in excessive quantities and the result comes out that it has to be thrown away after keeping for a day or two. But this could soon be terminated as FSSAI has brought an effective solution to save the food from being wasted, and also sufficing the need of those who sleep without food.

In a bid to reduce food waste, the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in collaboration with food recovery partners in the country to fight hunger and also prevent food wastage in India, launched an integrated web-based platform which will allow people to share their surplus meal with those in need. The Indian Food Recovery Alliance (IFRA) initiative will guide citizens and food recovery agencies on ways to prevent food loss and also how to safely recover the surplus food. The platform allows donors, individuals, and volunteers to register themselves under the initiative.

The donors will be able to track the status of the food they had donated, using personalised logins. The main platform and mobile applications will be accessible to the registered people to donate food, and the food recovery agencies will ensure proper distribution of the food. In India, multiple food recovery agencies, such as No Food Waste, Feeding India, Indian Food Banking Network, Roti Bank, Annakshetra, Giveaway India and Robin Hood Army among others, are functional.

"It is not enough that food is available but the food should be nutritious as well," Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said at the ‘National Conclave on Nutrition Security: Partnership and Convergence' organised by the FSSAI on the occasion of World Food Day. He also emphasised the need to raise awareness about nutritious food and cautioned people against adulteration. A report was also released by him on 'Large Scale Food Fortification in India – The Journey So Far and Road Ahead'. And  a food fortification website was inaugurated at the function. . FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said: “Wastage of food and loss is recognised as a global challenge also there is significant food loss and food waste in India.” “This initiative is an effort to recover surplus food that is lost and wasted at various stages.