McMillan LLP’s Post

The results of our annual impact survey are in. We’ve found that, over the last year, there has been a surge in youth food insecurity as a result of the cost of living crisis. The survey also found that: 🍏 The number of charities seeing 18-25 year olds accessing food support has doubled in the last year 🍏 The cost of living crisis is forcing young people to seek support from local charities, which are under pressure 🍏 Almost half (43%) of charities we provide food to would likely have to close down without support from FareShare Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eiVmJmGQ

Want to keep your #FoodWaste low for #Passover? Here are some ways to prepare before sundown: 🍞 Donate your leavened food to local charities 📋 Use a portion planner before buying ingredients 🌡️ Let your food cool before freezing

Aldi UK is spreading festive cheer by donating Christmas lunches to those in low-income in West Yorkshire – including #Knottingley. Through its partnership with Company Shop Group, the UK’s leading redistributor of surplus food and household goods, the supermarket will provide more than 2,000 free Christmas lunches nationwide to its award-winning social enterprise, Community Shop. Find out more: https://buff.ly/3BgX6Cz #Wakefield #WestYorkshire #Yorkshire #BusinessSupport #BusinessGrowth #WakefieldBusiness #YorkshireBusiness #Aldi #AldiUK #Festive #Christmas #Donate #Donation #Charity #ChristmasLunch #Food #CompanyShop

I shot this film a few days ago, and as with such events, it’s over before you know it. You have to move quickly to capture everything needed to stitch together a meaningful message. It's at times like these that I often take for granted the varied skills, experiences and sensibilities you can only pick up over time. Knowing that it was released, I pulled up YouTube excitedly this morning to watch it (there’s something about seeing your work out there in the open), and in the process I was fed two skippable ads. On watching them, it struck me how the democratization of creative tools—something as simple as a phone camera—while positive in theory, has contributed to a dystopian reality where we are surrounded by really bad content that, in this case, YouTube is being paid a lot of money to propagate. It reminds me of the time Comic Sans was seen in all the wrong places, because people suddenly had access to a power but lacked the responsibility or the sensibility to wield it. One argument is that it's now easy to stand out amidst the mediocre when you create something of quality.  I often tell people starting out in the creative field, surround yourself with good reference material, not only does it subliminally affect your skills, it's the only internal barometer you can build over time to honestly critique your own work. My fear with inundating the market with sub standard communications and marketing is that it will eventually lead to a dumbing down effect on the market.  That’s a scary prospect. What do you think?

We now estimate that we would need to spend twice what we originally budgeted to spend on food this year to meet the ongoing need. This leaves us with a critical gap between the amount of food people in our community need and the amount of food we can provide. Referring people to other food pantries is not the answer, since they are all facing the same critical challenges we are. It is a very difficult and disturbing truth for all of us. While we are deeply concerned, we remain hopeful. We have a generous community, tremendous volunteers, and a skilled and committed staff. Together we can make sure people in our community have the most basic and critical of all needs met and that our neighbors don’t have to experience hunger. You can help by sharing this message in your circles, and also by making a commitment to help today. Increase your giving, make your first financial gift, become a Circle of Hope monthly giver (see below for a link to help you with these), or purchase items from our Amazon wish list. https://lnkd.in/gq2K9EDj This isn't a short term problem with short term answers. But every action makes a difference.

One of the most common concerns we hear from potential food donors is the fear of liability—many worry about being sued if donated food unintentionally causes harm. Some even mistakenly think donating surplus food is illegal. ⁠ ⁠ Good news 📣 ✨️ The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects individuals, businesses, and nonprofits that donate food in good faith. ⁠ ⁠ Dispelling this myth encourages more food donations and less waste. Click the link below to learn more about how this law supports food recovery and help us spread the word!⁠ https://lnkd.in/eBtsY6hh #foodrescueus #foodrecovery #fooddonation #goodsamaritan

We must accept that inventory at food and beverage (F&B) establishments (e.g. restaurants, retail grocery stores) does expire. Food service workers at restaurants must discard any inventory received within 7 days or product that was defrosted and refrosted [1, 2]. That’s even with so many F&B establishments following the Food Safety and Inspection Services’ (FSIS) guidelines. Food eventually rots, then sent to a landfill or incinerator to emit carbon dioxide and methane. The guidelines aren't helping reduce food insecurity in the US, which remains above 10% for households since 2001 [3]. The 1996 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act intended to change that. Without criminal or civil liability (i.e. potential to be sued), F&B establishments could donate an “apparently wholesome food” or an “apparently fit grocery product" to nonprofits that would distribute it to "needy individuals" [4, 5, 6, 7]. They could only be held reliable if food service workers knew that the food wasn’t safe to eat (i.e. intentional misconduct) or didn’t check for pathogens like mold (i.e. gross negligence). Then why must I repeat that food insecurity has increased since 2001, and "up to 40% of the edible food supply ends up as food waste [and loss] [8]?" The Bill Emerson Act should make donating easy, especially when no company has been sued. There hasn't been enough education on food donation protection laws [9]. Moreover, the ambiguity of "apparently wholesome" or "apparently fit" renders civil and criminal immunity pointless. Rather than focusing on what to donate, F&B establishments focus on what won't get them in trouble. For context, Walmart’s Frank Yiannas’ team counted 47 "different" labels [10]. The 2023 Food Donation Improvement Act is a step in the right direction. It specified who qualified as a donor: retail grocers, wholesalers, agricultural producers, agricultural processors, agricultural distributors, restaurants, caterers, school food authorities, and institutions of higher education. Additionally, donors could set up a network of nonprofits, agreeing on a fixed rate to sell donated food to them: a "good Samaritan reduced price," which is not greater than making the food available for sale (e.g. handling, processing, packaging). F&B establishments could donate directly to individuals with civil and criminal immunity, too. Yiannas’ departure from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2023 indicates there’s more to be done. In his departure letter, Yiannas spoke about how the FDA is entering a "new era of smarter food safety," where it’s "bending the curve of foodborne illness once and for all” [11]. That curve must overcome 50% of food manufacturers, 25% of retail grocery stores, and 21% of restaurants feeling that liability concerns were still a barrier to donation, after being surveyed by the Food Waste Reduction Alliance in 2016 [12]. Until that curve is fully realized, however, F&B establishments won't donate. 

🙌 Initiatives like Aldi UK's surplus food donation program are making a crucial difference to children facing poverty in the UK. By partnering with the Neighbourly platform, Aldi ensures that food which might otherwise go to waste reaches those in our society who need it most. This approach not only addresses food poverty but does so in a sustainable and impactful way, exemplifying responsible corporate citizenship. #SurplusFoodDonation #ESG #SustainableBusiness

Did you know that 1 in 8 Americans experience food insecurity while more than $200 billion is spent on food that will never be eaten? That’s billions of pounds of food wasted instead of going to those who need it. Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) aims to redistribute excess food to people experiencing food insecurity. RLC makes it easy for businesses to donate their excess food to their community and provides a reliable, professional food rescue service for our partners at an efficient cost. Join us at the Rescuing Leftover Cuisine Gala 2024 as we unite to end food insecurity. If you cannot attend, please donate to support the cause. The link is in the first comment below. #foodrescue #donate #foodinsecurity #nonprofit

In your local area who do you think invests more in it? 1...Local Coiuncillors/ City Council 2...Schools & Governors 3...Food Charities/ Charities in general 4...The Residents themselves. 5...MPs & Government. when answering please say why you chose that response.