KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 945 metric tonne of surplus food was saved by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) through i Food Bank Malaysia program.
Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Jamil Salleh said the collected surplus food was in turn channeled to 26,200 deserving households nationwide.
He explained that the food bank program collected the surplus food which was still in good condition and distributed it to non-governmental organisations (NGO), which in turn channeled it to deserving households.
The NGO’s include among others, Mutiara Food Bank, Kechara Soup Kitchen as well as Food Aid Foundation.
"The surplus food will be collected, cleaned, stored before being distributed by NGOs to the needy.
"Until November 15, we managed to save 945 metric tons of food surplus which in turn benefited 26,200 households," he said here today,
Jamil said thus far there are 12 supermarkets which are involved in the food bank program.
They include outlets such as Tesco (Stores) Malaysia Sdn Bhd; GCH Retail (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd; Aeon Co (M) Bhd; Aeon Big (M) Sdn Bhd; Econsave Cash & Carry Sdn Bhd; NSK Trade City Sdn Bhd; TF Value-Mart Sdn Bhd; My Hero Hypermarket Sdn Bhd and Family Store Sdn Bhd.
“At this moment the supermarkets are focused on three perishable items comprising fruits, vegetables and bread.
“Nevertheless, KPDNHEP would not limit the type of food products to be contributed by the supermarkets,” he said
He said several pilot projects have been initiated in selected state’s such as
Penang, Perak, Johor, Selangor, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Negri Sembilan.
"This pilot project is being conducted in each state, to ensure that each NGOs and supermarket’s in the respective states are ready to ensure that Food Bank Malaysia program would run smoothly from next year onwards.
"This program will be expanded nationwide and will be launched by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on 22 December 2018 in Penang," he said.