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Agricultural News


State Lawmakers Hold Conference on Directing Unserved Food to Oklahoma's Hungry

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:03:56 CDT

State Lawmakers Hold Conference on Directing Unserved Food to Oklahoma's Hungry
A table holding 400-pound mountain of bread and pastry leftovers from a couple of Oklahoma City businesses underscored a conference on hunger at the state capitol.   


Hoping to make the point that unserved food from area restaurants, grocery stores and bakeries should be redirected to the hungry rather than trucked to the land fill, state Rep. Richard Morrissette hosted a conference with the Human Services Committee chaired by Rep. Pam Peterson.


Presenters, including Dusty Darr, AARP Associate State Director of Advocacy , laid out a hunger demographic to highlight where the need exists and it is everywhere. All groupings indicate increases in the number of hungry, with seniors and children extremely vulnerable. But, one of the fastest growing food insecure groups is the thirty-something working poor.


Joey Abbo, founder of the NEEDS Foundation, brought the demonstration food mountain and spoke to his idea for ending hunger by way of redirecting unserved food. Abbo and a crew of volunteers have established connections to area restaurants including Panera Bread and the Deep Fork Group. Daily, they pick up and deliver to churches and shelters and hope to expand upon their model of dealing strictly in perishable items for direct delivery.


"Collecting and redistributing perishable food in a manner that offers both the donor and the recipient the highest degree of protection from liability is the goal. We want to establish uniform public policy that will encourage all food related entities in the state to feel comfortable in joining efforts to donate unserved food to end hunger in Oklahoma," Morrissette said.


Mark Newman, policy director for the State Health Department, reviewed legislative initiatives already in place at the federal level and said that with some modifications to Oklahoma administrative rules, perishable food can safely be donated to efforts to end hunger.


Peter Muriana from the OSU Robert M. Kerr Food & Agriculture program and Jim Brooks, Business & Marketing Services Manager, confirmed that there are particular problem areas to address when developing policies for donation of perishables, but that these are not insurmountable. It was suggested that if reasonable safeguards to protect freshness are exercised and that notifications are posted for allergens, the risk would be no more than taking a doggy bag from a restaurant.


Jennifer Case and Beth Batman, both of OKDHS, spoke to senior hunger and nutrition center policies. Batman described the current practice of disallowing food to leave the center.


"I believe that our senior nutrition centers are crucial components to public health and I will do all that is necessary to see to it that leftovers and unserved portions be made available to take home," said Morrissette.


Park Ribble of the Oklahoma Grocers Association said that stores do try to pace inventory but that there is much waste. He supports the redistribution of unserved food and says that some markets are presently giving to the Regional Food Bank.


Dr. Rev. Chris Moore of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches affirmed the morality of seeking out a solution to developing uniform public policy to protect donors, as the issue of addressing hunger and poverty is a mandate for Christians.





   

 

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