Food Salvage 

Food salvage or food rescue can benefit the emergency food assistance program. Collecting surplus prepared and perishable foods to distribute to agencies serving hungry people is a large but rewarding job. The food is put to use at low cost instead of being thrown out and wasted. A booklet from the USDA, "A Citizen's Guide to Food Recovery," is discussed below. 

A Citizen’s Guide to Food Recovery 
In his foreword to the USDA booklet, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman writes, "A produce wholesaler in Santa Barbara donates 30 flats of slightly soft strawberries to a local food bank. A restaurant owner in Florida brings four unsold pizzas to a lunch program at a community shelter. A member of the AmeriCorps National Service Program in Iowa recruits community volunteers to pick corn from an already harvested field. What do these people have in common? 

"Whether you call it gleaning, food rescue, or food recovery, a growing community of individuals work from day to day to make sure good food goes to the dinner table instead of going to waste. In the United States, we not only produce an abundance of food, we waste an enormous amount of it as well. Up to one-fifth of America’s food goes to waste in fields, commercial kitchens, markets, schools and restaurants. Even in a society where just about everything is disposable, good food going to waste is unacceptable. As long as any child or adult in this country is going hungry, food recovery will be one of my highest personal priorities as Secretary of Agriculture... 

"This handbook is about what you can do. It lists ways you can join this growing community of volunteers. In short, it tells you how to make a daily difference in the lives and futures of hungry families across our nation." 

The USDA publication "A Citizen's Guide to Food Recovery" is a resource guide for people--both public officials and private citizens--interested in how to operate food recovery programs. It describes major food recovery activities already taking place and suggests how people can support existing programs or start new ones. It outlines key considerations relating to legal issues and food safety. It includes a resource directory and a state-by-state breakdown of organizations involved in food recovery. As a case study, it looks at a USDA-sponsored AmeriCorps project that focused on gleaning. Finally, it includes a resource directory and a state-by-state breakdown of organizations involved in food recovery. 

For copies of the "Citizen’s Guide to Food Recovery," contact USDA’s toll-free hotline at, 1-800-GLEANIT. The hotline also provides information about USDA food distribution and establishes links between potential food donors and community programs. 

Food Safety and Food Recovery 
Food Safety is clearly a critical issue in food recovery projects. As a result, the resource publication also includes guidelines on safe food handling prepared by The Chef and Child Foundation, Inc. of the American Culinary Federation. These guidelines are drawn from a training program developed specifically for organizations receiving donated foods. The Chef and Child Foundation can be reached by phone at 904-824-4468, extension 104, or by mail at The American Culinary Federation, 10 San Bartola Drive, St. Augustine, Florida 32086. 

Links 
A Citizen's Guide to Food Recovery 
Food Programs: Food Chain 
Index of Food and Nutrition Internet Resources 
Guide for Homeless Shelters, Soup Kitchens, Food Banks 

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