Fair Food on One News

A group of Kiwis are determined to fight food waste this holiday season.

Fair Food is an organisation that works seven days a week, 365 days a year, to try and fix two major issues in New Zealand – food poverty and food waste.

An army of volunteers operate out of a West Auckland warehouse, constantly sorting through food destined for the landfill and trying to find it a home where it’s desperately needed.

Two thousand kilograms of kai is delivered to the organisation by supermarkets who have, for a range of different reasons, deemed it unable to be sold.

Fair Food general manager Michelle Blau said it’s usually produce that consumers won’t buy due to being disfigured or unattractive.

“People often buy food like strawberries, blueberries and tomatoes in groups, but as soon as one item goes off then no one is purchasing it. That doesn’t mean we can’t pick through it and make a a beautiful new box of strawberries for someone else,” she said.

This examination process means they’re able to turn that two tonnes of food into 6000 meal boxes, working with 50 different charities to get it to those in need.

“When people are hungry there’s no reason why perfectly good food should end up in the bin,” Blau told 1News.

“We’re trying to recognise ourselves into non-existence, the big numbers represent more hunger and more waste, neither of which we want to see.”