大象传媒

June 2009

听

Pennies are short in people's pockets at the moment and we all need to be a bit more aware of what we do with our food.

One charity is being proactive in this area. Steve Hayes from Barnsley runs the local branch of FareShare - a food poverty charity which redistributes surplus food from manufacturers and supermarkets and gives it to various groups ranging from homeless charities and drug support groups to young people's groups.

Steve Hayes from Fareshare in Barnsley

FareShare has 12 depots around the country - the one Steve Hayes works at is at Stairfoot in Barnsley. He told 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield's Toby Foster how the scheme works:

"Last year we redistributed almost 450 tonnes of surplus food in the Barnsley area. We get most of it from supermarket distributors and food companies but none of it is past its Sell By or Use By date.

"The food often has months to go before it goes off in fact. It might just be that it was part of a promotion, or it has the wrong packaging or barcode on, and so on."

The beauty of the scheme is that if the food wasn't redistributed and put back into the food chain, it would be dumped in a hole in the ground.

Use By and Best Before dates are a subject which cause quite a bit of confusion. Steve explains the difference between them - although FareShare doesn't give out food that goes beyond its dates.

"Use By dates are on foodstuffs that, if they go too long past their date it could cause you harm. Things like meat.

"Best Before dates on the other hand, you find on food which won't hurt you past that date but might not taste, look or feel as it should.

"In fact the food we give out is all within those dates, it's just the surplus food that's sitting at the supermarket distribution centres. It could be that the supermarkets have fridges full of chicken drumsticks because everyone was expecting a barbecue weekend, but then it rained."

:: Find more information about FareShare via the link on the right of the page.