The International Fresh Produce Association celebrated Giving Tuesday by reflecting on food donation partnerships with its annual Global Produce and Floral Show.
At this year’s show, held in October in Anaheim, Calif., IFPA partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and Food Forward to rescue and distribute produce and floral, and it also worked with event partner GES to donate furniture and appliances used on the floor during the show, according to a news release.
“The partnerships we have with local organizations that help us rescue and deliver produce, floral and more to the communities that host our show are critical to our values and sustainability goals,” Director of Trade Shows Kyle McMillan said in the release. “We’re also so grateful for our exhibitors for their generosity of donating their products and look forward to continuing our work with these partners at next year’s show in Atlanta.”
IFPA says it implemented an extensive back-of-house waste sorting operation to maximize the collection of over 6 tons of floral green waste. Additional waste streams included soft plastics, cardboard and single-stream recycling.
The donation at this year’s show totaled 227,000 pounds of produce and floral with 221,000 pounds of produce going to the communities around Anaheim and Los Angeles, along with 6,650 pounds of floral, according to the release. This was rescued and packed by volunteers trained and organized by IFPA’s longstanding partners, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, the release said.
“Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County is thrilled to continue its long-term partnership with IFPA for another successful trade show,” Director of Sourcing, Logistics and Sustainability Kelly Alesi said in the release. “We deeply appreciate this fruitful collaboration. We also extend our gratitude to the members and vendors of the 2023 IFPA trade show for their generous product donations. Second Harvest greatly values this year’s contributions which have played a crucial role in our ability to supply our community with nutritious, fresh produce.”
This year, IFPA expanded the partnership to maximize community impact by also partnering with Food Forward who helped distribute food and floral through Los Angeles distribution channels.
“As a national innovator in the food loss and waste space, Food Forward leverages its unique and sustainable business model to recover hundreds of thousands of pounds of surplus fruits and vegetables daily, thanks to the generosity of produce donors,” Rick Nahmias, founder and CEO at Food Forward, said in the release. “We are deeply grateful for our partnership with IFPA, which provides a tremendous opportunity to strategically educate the produce industry while sharing more surplus produce with the communities who need it most.”
In a continued effort to be more sustainable, for the first time ever, IFPA offered a furnishing recycling option which included furniture, refrigerators and more that have been donated to the surrounding communities.
While the Global Produce and Floral Show donation takes place in October, IFPA recognizes that nutrition security is an ongoing challenge around the world, according to the release.
