Charitable Food Aid and Distribution

Food insecurity is the inability to afford or access food in sufficient quantities or the anxiety of being unable to do so in a socially acceptable, culturally appropriate and non-stigmatizing way. It is increasing in prevalence with new subgroups of consumers experiencing it either acutely or chronically. Often the default means of responding to food insecurity is to distribute food aid via various means including food pantries/food banks or social supermarkets which are the focus of this bibliography. The terminology varies in different countries, with food pantries referring to wholesalers in the food aid chain distributing food to charities for distribution to people accessing food in this way. There are other settings facilitating food aid distribution outside the scope of this review, including school breakfast clubs, community kitchens and soup kitchens. The Covid-19 pandemic shone a light on the precarity of food aid and like all organizations, food aid charities had to pivot to different operational models to continue to support people reliant upon them for accessing food. Typically, food banks and their equivalents are run by volunteers who are increasingly advising that they are not a sustainable solution to food insecurity because they are institutionalizing food aid without eradicating, or even reducing, food insecurity in the long-term. Further, food aid relies on dwindling food supplies distributed by a body of volunteers facing burnout as they strive to feed increasing numbers of hungry people, and all without addressing the root causes of poverty. Food sources for food aid is another problematic area often comprising redistributed food that would otherwise have been wasted and may be viewed, in a positive sense, as a business practicing its corporate social responsibility or, less positively, as greenwashing that fails to address the wastefulness that occurs in the food system. Food supplies come under scrutiny too in terms of how socially acceptable it is to access food from food banks, pantries or social supermarkets where stigma persists, where choice is diminished, and the nutritional adequacy and cultural appropriateness of the food parcels may not meet norms for health, religious or special diets. Food aid charities are providing a laudable service in the absence of action by other players in the food chain from both the private and public sectors. The public sector in particular should be the primary duty bearer of ensuring access to food, but the private sector is instrumental too in ensuring that employees receive fair wages and prices are affordable so that food is accessible by all. Ultimately, there are alternatives means of ensuring food justice, notably through adopting a rights-based approach to food and a cash first system that prioritizes income-based solutions so that everyone can choose the most appropriate food to meet their particular circumstances in a dignified way.