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Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work

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  • Valerie Tarasuk
  • Joan Eakin

Abstract

In Canada, food assistance is provided through a widespread network of extra-governmental, community-based, charitable programs, popularly termed “food banks”. Most of the food they distribute has been donated by food producers, processors, and retailers or collected through appeals to the public. Some industry donations are of market quality, but many donations are “surplus” food that cannot be retailed. Drawing on insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work in southern Ontario, we examined how the structure and function of food banks operate to facilitate the distribution of foods not marketed through the retail system. Our findings indicate that the handling of industry donations of unsaleable products is a labor-intensive activity, made possible by the surfeit of unpaid labor in food banks, the neediness of food bank clients, and clients’ lack of rights in this system. The marshalling of volunteer labor to serve a corporate need might be construed as a “win-win” situation because the work of salvaging edible foodstuffs from among industry “surplus” helps to “feed the hungry” while also diminishing the amount of refuse deposited in landfill sites, sparing corporations disposal costs and landfill tipping fees, and helping them forge an image of good corporate citizenship. However, the reliance of food banks on industry donations means that food assistance becomes defined as that which the corporate sector cannot retail. Moreover, the intertwining of food bank work with corporate needs may function to further entrench this ad hoc secondary food system and mitigate against initiatives to develop more effective responses to problems of hunger and food insecurity in our communities. Copyright Springer 2005

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  • Valerie Tarasuk & Joan Eakin, 2005. "Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(2), pages 177-186, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:22:y:2005:i:2:p:177-186
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-004-8277-x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sarah Jansen & William Foster & Gustavo Anríquez & Jorge Ortega, 2021. "Understanding Farm-Level Incentives within the Bioeconomy Framework: Prices, Product Quality, Losses, and Bio-Based Alternatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Garthwaite, K.A. & Collins, P.J. & Bambra, C., 2015. "Food for thought: An ethnographic study of negotiating ill health and food insecurity in a UK foodbank," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 38-44.
    4. Rombach, Meike & Bitsch, Vera, 2018. "Sector blending: evidence from the German Food Bank," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 21(2), March.
    5. Christian John Reynolds & Julia Piantadosi & John Boland, 2015. "Rescuing Food from the Organics Waste Stream to Feed the Food Insecure: An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Australian Food Rescue Operations Using Environmentally Extended Waste Input-Output ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Jorge Coque & Pilar L. González-Torre, 2017. "Adapting Nonprofit Resources to New Social Demands: The Food Banks in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Anna Sofia Salonen & Maria Ohisalo & Tuomo Laihiala, 2018. "Undeserving, Disadvantaged, Disregarded: Three Viewpoints of Charity Food Aid Recipients in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    8. Katharine S. E. Cresswell Riol & Sean Connelly, 2023. "Beyond a neoliberal critique of hunger: a genealogy of food charity in Aotearoa New Zealand," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1221-1238, September.
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    10. Domenic Vitiello & Jeane Grisso & K. Whiteside & Rebecca Fischman, 2015. "From commodity surplus to food justice: food banks and local agriculture in the United States," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 419-430, September.
    11. Dubey, Nistha & Tanksale, Ajinkya, 2022. "A study of barriers for adoption and growth of food banks in India using hybrid DEMATEL and Analytic Network Process," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Francesca Galli & Alessio Cavicchi & Gianluca Brunori, 2019. "Food waste reduction and food poverty alleviation: a system dynamics conceptual model," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 289-300, June.
    13. Lesia Kinach & Kate Parizeau & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2020. "Do food donation tax credits for farmers address food loss/waste and food insecurity? A case study from Ontario," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 383-396, June.
    14. Michael F. Royer, 2024. "The Folly of Food Waste amidst Food Insecurity in the United States: A Literature Review," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, April.
    15. Lynn McIntyre & Danielle Tougas & Krista Rondeau & Catherine L. Mah, 2016. "“In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 843-859, December.
    16. Pérez, Eduardo & Marthak, Yash V. & Méndez Mediavilla, Francis A., 2023. "Analysis and forecast of donations at domestic hunger relief organizations impacted by natural disasters," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    17. Wodon, Divya & Wodon, Naina & Wodon, Quentin, 2013. "Thrift Stores Funding Food Pantries: A Win-Win Strategy for Nonprofits Serving the Poor?," MPRA Paper 56941, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Garrone, Paola & Melacini, Marco & Perego, Alessandro, 2014. "Opening the black box of food waste reduction," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 129-139.
    19. Kelsey D. Meagher & Anne Gillman & David C. Campbell & Edward S. Spang, 2020. "Relational and Logistical Dimensions of Agricultural Food Recovery: Evidence from California Growers and Recovery Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-18, July.
    20. Pilar González-Torre & Jorge Coque, 2016. "How is a food bank managed? Different profiles in Spain," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 89-100, March.
    21. Mary Griffin & Jeffery Sobal & Thomas Lyson, 2009. "An analysis of a community food waste stream," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(1), pages 67-81, March.
    22. Antonis Vlassopoulos & Konstantina Filippou & Aleks Pepa & Olga Malisova & Dimitra Xenaki & Maria Kapsokefalou, 2020. "Healthy Diet Assistance for the Most Deprived in Post-Crisis Greece: An Evaluation of the State Food Provision Program," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    23. Melanie Rock & Lynn McIntyre & Krista Rondeau, 2009. "Discomforting comfort foods: stirring the pot on Kraft Dinner ® and social inequality in Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 167-176, September.
    24. Wodon, Divya & Wodon, Naina & Wodon, Quentin, 2013. "How Cost Effective Are Food Pantry Programs for the Poor Likely to Be?," MPRA Paper 56945, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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