Charity Starts … at Work? Conceptual Foundations for Research with Businesses that Donate to Food Redistribution Organisations

The status of the global food waste mitigation policies: experience and inspiration for China

Food waste has become a significant challenge faced by the community with a shared future for mankind, and it has also caused a considerable impact on China's food security. Scholars across disciplines, international organizations, and especially policymakers are increasingly interested in food waste. Policies are seen as a powerful factor in reducing food waste, but current research on related policies is more scattered. This paper summarizes and analyzes the experiences of food waste policy development and implementation by systematically reviewing the studies on food waste reduction policies. The results of this paper's analysis show that current global food waste policies are focused at the national strategic level, with approaches such as legislation, food donation, waste recycling, awareness and education, and data collection. At the same time, we find that the current experience of developed countries in policy formulation and implementation is beneficial for policy formulation in developing countries. And taking China as an example, we believe that developing countries can improve food waste policies in the future by improving legislation, guiding the development of food banks, promoting social governance, and strengthening scientific research projects. These policies will all contribute strongly to global environmental friendliness. In addition, we discuss some of the factors that influence the development of food waste policies and argue that in the future, more consideration needs to be given to the effects of policy implementation and that case studies should focus more on developing countries. This will contribute to the global sustainable development process.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10668-023-03132-0.

A Circular Economy Approach to Food Security and Poverty: a Case Study in Food Rescue in Sri Lanka

Food rescue has been identified as a sustainable approach in preventing wastage of surplus food and achieving food security. Although food insecurity is widely prevalent in developing countries, there is a paucity of research investigating food donations and rescue operations in these countries. This study focuses on surplus food redistribution activities from a developing country perspective. Specifically, the study analyses the structure, motivations, and limitations of the existing food rescue system in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by conducting a series of structured interviews with twenty food donors and redistributors. The food rescue system in Sri Lanka characterises a sporadic redistribution, and food donors and rescuers are mainly driven by humanitarian motives. The findings also reveal missing institutions - facilitator organisations and back-line organisations - in the surplus food rescue system. Food redistributors identified that inadequate food logistics and establishing formal partnerships as major challenges in food rescue operations. Establishing intermediary organisations such as food banks to provide the required food logistics, imposing food safety parameters and minimum quality standards required for surplus food redistribution, and community awareness programmes on food redistribution can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of food rescue operations. There is an urgent need to embed food rescue as a strategy to reduce food wastage and to enhance food security in existing policies.

A Game Theoretic Framework for Surplus Food Distribution in Smart Cities and Beyond

Food waste is currently a major challenge for the world. It is the precursor to several socioeconomic problems that are plaguing modern society. To counter and to, simultaneously, stand by the undernourished, surplus food redistribution has surfaced as a viable solution. Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-mediated food redistribution is a highly scalable approach and it percolates into the lives of the masses far better. Even if ICT is not brought into the picture, the presence of food surplus redistribution in developing countries such as India is scarce and is limited to only a few of the major cities. The discussion of a surplus food redistribution framework under strategic settings is a less discussed topic around the globe. This paper aims to address a surplus food redistribution framework under strategic settings, thereby facilitating a smoother exchange of surplus food in the smart cities of developing countries and beyond. As ICT is seamlessly available in smart cities, the paper aims to focus the framework in these cities. However, this can be extended beyond the smart cities to places with greater human involvement.

Food assistance in Portugal: organizational challenges in three different contexts

Purpose

Drawing on an ethnographic research study, developed in three different food assistance initiatives (FAIs) operating in Portugal, this article seeks to explore the elements that characterize them and the main organizational challenges they face.

Design/methodology/approach

Participant observation was carried out in a surplus food redistribution charity, a soup kitchen and a social supermarket, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with supervisors of these FAIs. The study followed an inductive coding strategy, and a thematic analysis was developed.

Findings

The main results point to an appreciation of the initiatives and the role they play, but they also highlight the existence of several challenges, mainly related to: 1) difficulties in accessing sources of funding, 2) the absence of an intervening state and 3) a scarcity of resources that allow a thorough assessment of their activities and services provided, which weakens the public image of these responses.

Originality/value

The development of food assistance in Europe has a long history. Over the past few years, this sector has grown significantly. Nowadays, it is possible to identify several realities around emergency food provision. However, this heterogeneity has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. In addition, there are few studies that report on the variety of initiatives that coexist in Portugal and establish a comparison between them. The current paper intends to overcome this gap by seeking to understand the main models of food assistance operating in the country.

Religiosity and Generosity: Multi-Level Approaches to Studying the Religiousness of Prosocial Actions

This paper provides a meta-analysis of the intersection of (a) religiosity and spirituality with (b) generosity, philanthropy, nonprofits, and prosociality. The study is informed by three informational sources, chronologically: (1) informational interviews with scholars and practitioners based within and studying regions outside of the U.S. and Western Europe; (2) discovery search of purposefully selected extant publications, especially focusing on the last decade of contemporary scholarship; and (3) systematic search of relevant peer-reviewed publication outlets since 2010. Reviewed publications are categorized by level of analysis into macro, meso, and micro approaches. Across each level and source, publications are also geo-tagged for their geographic scope. Particular attention is paid to the under-studied world regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The results reveal that Asia is the most studied and Latin America the least studied, and that meso-level approaches are the most common while micro-level are the least common. Additionally, a map of publication counts reveals within-region inequalities by country. Implications of the analysis are drawn for future studies, particularly ways to advance this interdisciplinary field.

Do food donation tax credits for farmers address food loss/waste and food insecurity? A case study from Ontario

To increase donations of nutritious food, Ontario introduced a tax credit for farmers who donate agricultural products to food banks in 2013. This research seeks to investigate the role of Ontario's Food Donation Tax Credit for Farmers in addressing both food loss and waste (FLW) and food insecurity through a case study of fresh produce rescue in Windsor-Essex, Ontario. This research also documents the challenges associated with rescuing fresh produce from farms, as well as alternatives to donating. Interviews with food banks, producers and key informants revealed that perceptions of the tax credit, and the credit's ability to address FLW and food insecurity, contrasted greatly with the initial perceptions of the policymakers who created the tax credit. In particular, the legislators did not anticipate the logistical challenges associated with incentivizing this type of donation, nor the limitations of a donation-based intervention to provide food insecure Ontarians with access to fresh, nutritious food.

Donate Time or Money? The Determinants of Donation Intention in Online Crowdfunding

Compared with traditional charities, donation-based crowdfunding has many novel characteristics. Among the variety of factors that influence potential donors before they develop a donation intention, which are the main ones influencing the intention to donate online? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key potential determinants of both time and money donations. This study attempts to combine the theory of planned behavior and norm activation theory with social presence theory to conceptualize and develop an integration framework to measure the donation intention. The results of the structural equation modeling, based on 350 valid questionnaire responses received from November 19 to December 19, 2018, suggest that the dependent variable of time donations is significantly affected by social presence, trust, and perceived behavioral control. As for the dependent variable of money donations, only subjective norm has an insignificant effect. The study results offer practical guidelines about the unique aspects of donation to managers of crowdfunding platform and fundraisers.

Understanding corporate surplus food donation in China: testing the roles of environmental concern, altruism, past experience, and perceived risk

This paper investigates the motives behind corporate giving and determines whether perceived risk plays a major role in corporate surplus food donation intention. A conceptual model is developed from the perspectives of perceived risk, economic concern, past behavior, and moral motives. A questionnaire survey is conducted among food manufacturers and retailers in the Sichuan Province in China. A total of 143 valid observations are used to conduct structural equation modeling analysis. The results show that corporate reputation, legislation, and business risks are the main sub dimensions of risks that corporations perceive. Perceived risk, past behavior, environmental concern, and altruism affect corporate donation intention significantly. Implications of the findings for promoting surplus food donation are also discussed.

Identifying Factors Associated with Food Losses during Transportation: Potentials for Social Purposes

The problem of food waste and food loss covers the entire food chain, and its scale varies depending on the part of the chain. The aim of the study was to identify a problem and indicate places where goods redistribution is possible at the food transportation stage. The article provides a detailed breakdown of the causes of losses at the transportation stage. The research material was a large dairy cooperative in Poland. It was found that it was possible to recover 25.08 tons of dairy products. Taking into account the total weight of the cargo carried by all transport units during the analyzed period, this amount is approximately 0.5% of the full load capacity of all transport units in a two-year period. The research conducted shows that losses during the transportation of finished goods are generated, therefore it is possible to recover part of the food during the loading, transportation and unloading stages. The present practice involves an unconditional disposal of all products, which for various reasons are not delivered to the customer at the appropriate time and in proper commercial quality (accidents, collisions). The disposal of ready, often packed, completely safe products is a highly undesirable phenomenon, especially in the context of the poverty experienced by part of society.

Food waste reduction practices in German food retail

PURPOSE

The purpose of this paper is to investigate food retailers food waste reduction practices in Germany. The focus is on selling and redistributing agricultural produce with visual impairments and other surplus food items. In addition, drivers and barriers regarding the implementation of both waste reduction practices are explored.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

In total, 12 in-depth interviews with managerial actors in the food retail sector and a food bank spokesperson were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through a qualitative content analysis.

FINDINGS

In contrast to organic retailers, conventional retailers were reluctant to include agricultural produce with visual impairments in their product assortments, due to fears of negative consumer reactions. Another obstacle was EU marketing standards for specific produce. All retailers interviewed engaged in redistribution of surplus food. Logistics and the regulatory framework were the main barriers to food redistribution.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The present study adds to the existing body of literature on food waste reduction practices as it explores selling produce with visual impairments and elaborates on the legal background of food redistribution in German retail. The results are the foundation for providing recommendations to policy makers and charitable food organizations.

Processing- and product-related causes for food waste and implications for the food supply chain

Reducing food waste is one of the prominent goals in the current research, which has also been set by the United Nations to achieve a more sustainable world by 2030. Given that previous studies mainly examined causes for food waste generation related to consumers, e.g., expectations regarding quality or uncertainties about edibility, this review aims at providing an overview on losses in the food industry, as well as on natural mechanisms by which impeccable food items are converted into an undesired state. For this, scientific literature was reviewed based on a keyword search, and information not covered was gathered by conducting expert interviews with representatives from 13 German food processing companies. From the available literature, three main areas of food waste generation were identified and discussed: product deterioration and spoilage during logistical operations, by-products from food processing, and consumer perception of quality and safety. In addition, expert interviews revealed causes for food waste in the processing sector, which were categorised as follows: losses resulting from processing operations and quality assurance, and products not fulfilling quality demands from trade. The interviewees explained a number of strategies to minimise food losses, starting with alternative tradeways for second choice items, and ending with emergency power supplies to compensate for power blackouts. It became clear that the concepts are not universally applicable for each company, but the overview provided in the present study may support researchers in finding appropriate solutions for individual cases.