Nutrition and Very-Perishable Food Rescue A study on on the contributions of fresh produce to one relief agency in Boulder, Colorado

The purpose of this report is to examine the effect that recovery of culled produce from grocery stores has on the quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables available in meals served by one relief agency in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder Food Rescue uses a just-in-time model to recover fragile, highly perishable produce that is frequently not collected by traditional food rescue and relief organizations and delivers it directly to recipients. One of those recipients, Bridge House, is a day shelter that serves approximately 1,000 meals a week to homeless and working poor individuals. These two organizations recorded the ingredients and the donor of those ingredients in each Bridge House meal served for eight weeks (February and March, 2012). Boulder Food Rescue contributed 600 lbs of produce a week, representing 66% of the fresh fruits and vegetables served, equivalent to between two and three servings of fruits and vegetables per meal, and was the only foodrescue source for many of these items. Results show that the just-in-time food rescue model can supplement traditional food relief organizations by supplying fresh fruit and vegetables in the winter months when it would have been otherwise cost prohibitive. Limitations of the current study The current research occurred during the winter months over an eight-week period. During other months of the year, fresh produce is more readily available to traditional rescue organizations, such as food banks, when food is grown in closer proximity. Food banks purchase and distribute thousands of pounds more produce during the summer than the winter. Therefore, a summer survey would likely show a greater contribution from food bank sources. Yet, many relief organizations are constrained by small amounts of storage space and limited access to commercial kitchens, which constrains what they can pick up on a trip to the food bank. With better storage, relief agencies would likely utilize more fresh produce both from food banks and other rescue organizations. BFR’s multi-day delivery schedule of manageable amounts of produce contributes to an agency’s ability to utilize more fruits and vegetables within a day or two throughout the week. Additional research is needed to examine the effects of frequent, smaller deliveries on agencies 1 Contact for corresponding authors: {rhonda,caleb}@boulderfoodrescue.org. throughout the year.