At the Food Centre’s warehouse in Oslo, preparations are being made to pick up a new load of surplus food. On this day, the destination is Coop’s warehouse in Gardermoen. The general manager of Matsentralen Oslo, Cristiano Aubert, says that in December they distributed a record amount of food in the capital. Over 57,000 kilos. – This corresponds to over 114,000 meals in just one week. We broke all other previous records. Aubert is well satisfied with the contribution from the private players at the end of the year. This has meant that they have been able to give food to extra people in the run-up to Christmas. – The amount of food sent in has been absolutely formidable and has meant that we have been able to help even more people who are having a hard time and are facing a tough Christmas, he says. At Coop’s warehouse near Gardermoen, pallets of food are loaded into the Food Center’s truck. Today, the menu includes Christmas herring, pasta sauce and mascarpone. Photo: William Jobling / news Giving away 150 million worth of food In front of Coop’s warehouse at Gardermoen, managing director Philipp Engedal shows which foodstuffs are to be delivered to the Food Centre. – Today there is a lot of pasta and Christmas food. We have Christmas herring and cheese and, he says. Weekly, wholesalers and grocery chains give away edible food that cannot be sold, for example due to packaging errors or a short shelf life. Figures obtained by news show that Coop, Norgesgruppen and Rema 1000 have given a total of almost 3 million kilos of surplus food to the Matsentralen this year. Engeldal says that this is a win-win situation for their industry. – We have committed ourselves to reducing food waste by 50 per cent by 2030. So in that context, it is very nice to give that surplus food to the Food Centre, among other things. CEO of Coop Philipp Engedal says the arrangement is a win-win arrangement for their industry. Photo: William Jobling / news The value of what the aforementioned players in the food industry have supplied food for is over NOK 150 million. Because the Food Center uses the official food waste statistics as a basis, this calculation is based on the fact that each kilogram of food is only worth NOK 56. The real value of what is given away varies from inexpensive dry goods to luxury goods. In comparison, the Food Center received 14.2 million in the state budget. In the proposal for the state budget, 14.8 million has been allocated. – We are very happy to be able to contribute, of course. The state has come up with more funds in the proposed budget, but it is mostly the private sector that finances this here, says Engedal. In December, the Food Center receives a lot of Christmas food. Photo: William Jobling / news Can weaken trust in the welfare state Tone Fløtten is general manager of the Fafo Research Foundation. They recently published the report “Mathjelp på dugnad”. The report points to the danger of food queues weakening the population’s trust in the welfare state. – It is important that those who are in the most dire straits and have the greatest problems have confidence that the welfare state will stand up for them when problems arise, says Fløtten. If there is an established understanding that if you have difficulties, then food distributions are your emergency solution, it could be unfortunate for the trust both the disadvantaged and the rest of us have in the welfare state, she believes. Although the general manager of Matsentralen is happy with the month’s record, he also sees that it is a symptom of a societal challenge. – In Norway, which is one of the world’s richest and happiest countries, it is sad that we are needed. So we set records with a twist, but it also feels incredibly good to be able to set those records, says Aubert.
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The food center has never distributed as much food as now – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
