Food Bridge

The Food Bridge team participated in a meaningful food rescue tour at Second Harvest Food Bank today. We learned so much firsthand food rescue information from our tour guides, Michelle, Brittany, and Joan. Several takeaways:

 

  • Second Harvest serves 500,000 neighbors each month, and 1/6 of the county's residents receive some form of food assistance 

  • Second Harvest rescues 93 million pounds of food annually

  • 60% of all rescued food is fresh produce (vegetables and fruits). Most of them are not 'good-looking' but perfectly edible produce from farms

  • Second Harvest provides a nutrition program to teach people about food nutrition and how to cook the food they receive, ensuring rescued items don't go to waste

  • 74% of the food is from community donations, including farms, large commercial food distributors, and grocery stores

  • Second Harvest also buys additional food varieties from distributors at $0.18 per pound - enough to cover labor fees without driving retail pricing

  • Donated produce is typically distributed to the public within 2–3 days to preserve peak freshness for recipients

  • Second Harvest provides a nutrition program to educate people on food nutrition and how to cook the food they receive to avoid waste 

  • Second Harvest receives minimal government funding and mainly depends on community donations

  • Food date labels such as "USE BY", "SELL BY", or "BEST BY" are used to inform you on the freshness and quality of foods. Food is still safe to eat past these dates