Aloysius Nimeshika, Ananda Jayanath
School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University, Victoria Melbourne, Australia.
Circ Econ Sustain. 2023 Feb 17:1-22. doi: 10.1007/s43615-023-00255-4.
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.
食物救援已被视为一种可持续的方法，可防止剩余食物的浪费并实现粮食安全。尽管粮食不安全在发展中国家广泛存在，但对这些国家的食物捐赠和救援行动进行调查的研究却很匮乏。本研究从发展中国家的角度关注剩余食物的再分配活动。具体而言，该研究通过对20位食物捐赠者和再分配者进行一系列结构化访谈，分析了斯里兰卡科伦坡现有食物救援系统的结构、动机和局限性。斯里兰卡的食物救援系统具有零星再分配的特点，食物捐赠者和救援者主要受人道主义动机驱使。研究结果还揭示了剩余食物救援系统中缺失的机构——促进组织和后援组织。食物再分配者认为，食物物流不足和建立正式伙伴关系是食物救援行动中的主要挑战。建立诸如食品银行之类的中介组织以提供所需的食物物流、规定剩余食物再分配所需的食品安全参数和最低质量标准，以及开展关于食物再分配的社区宣传项目，可提高食物救援行动的效率和成效。迫切需要将食物救援作为一项战略纳入现有政策，以减少食物浪费并加强粮食安全。
