FOOD aid recipients under Penang’s Mutiara Food Bank programme will soon be getting food from hotels.

This boost follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding today between the Penang government and Food Aid Foundation to improve the food bank’s operations.

“Penang hotels are also coming in to help by contributing their kitchens’ surplus food,” the food bank programme’s chief, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, said.

The cooked hotel food will be packed and delivered to recipients on the food bank’s list on the same day it is collected from the hotels.

Since the programme kicked off in early May, Mutiara Food Bank volunteers have been receiving surplus food from several food outlets, including Tesco hypermarkets, which contribute unsold vegetables, fruits and pastries.

“Sometimes, we get 800kg of food from Tesco. But on days when business at Tesco is very good, we get just 100kg,” Saifuddin said.

Mutiara Food Bank volunteers gather the food, take them back to collection centres, which may be the offices of local assemblymen or village development and security committee (JKKK) offices, and then send them to recipients’ homes.

The programme covers 10 state constituencies, with six on the mainland, and benefits some 7,000 people.

Food Aid Foundation founder Rick Chee, whose organisation helped train Mutiara Food Bank volunteers, said the collected food – which include those produced in excess, are close to their expiry dates or are mislabelled or damaged – are checked for quality and safety before going to recipients.

He said collecting the surplus food meant “rescuing” them from landfills to benefit the many people who needed help feeding themselves and their families.

“Some 3,000 tonnes or one million meals go to waste each day. It is morally wrong to discard edible food when so many people need it,” he said, adding that the arrangement also helped businesses reduce their food disposal cost and reduce negative impacts on the environment.

Chee said it was the foundation’s dream to set up a food bank in every state, and praised the Penang government for taking the initiative.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who witnessed the MoU signing at his office in Komtar today, said this was the first step towards broadening the food bank’s operations next year.

“The participation by the Penang Hoteliers Association and Penang Chefs Association will also help make the programme a greater success,” he said.

Lim said the Penang government remained committed towards the people’s welfare, spending RM23.2 million since 2009 under its Equitable Economic Agenda, which aims to eradicate poverty.

He also thanked the foundation, the chefs association and the food bank for providing food to victims following the floods disaster earlier this month. – November 20, 2017.