Dear Partners, As you may know, one fourth of the world’s chronically hungry people live in India, while 25-30 percent of all the food produced by the country is wasted. Last week, the India FoodBanking Network, with support from GFN, took an important step in bringing vital support to those facing hunger through forging a joint commitment with India’s Ministry of Food Processing to advance food banking in the country. The partnership, which was announced at World Food India, will assess the extent of food waste at various points in the supply chain, and determine strategies to efficiently capture this surplus and re-direct it to those facing hunger. The India FoodBanking Network, with technical assistance from GFN, will also:

• explore policy initiatives that enable food rescue and advance hunger relief;
• design operating standards that support food safety and reflect organizational best practices; and
• develop food banking models that can be piloted in rural and urban areas throughout India.

GFN began exploring food banking in India in 2009 and has partnered with the India FoodBanking Network, which is cultivating food banking in a number of cities, since 2013. Although the food banking model holds great promise for supporting hunger relief, much work remains to refine a model that best fits with the hunger and food waste challenges facing the country, and then take that model to scale. This partnership serves as an important next step. This partnership is just one exciting step in the work that you are enabling GFN to lead in advancing the food banking concept globally. As you know, approximately 1 in 9 people globally face hunger, and millions of these people can be reached through food banking. We look forward to keeping you apprised of our work to support hunger relief in India, and beyond.   My Best, Lisa Moon President & CEO