Abu Dhabi About 10,000kg of untouched leftover iftar food is being distributed daily to poor families in and around Abu Dhabi, a Red Crescent official said.
“There are 700 families who are waiting for their dinner which comes from food wasted during iftar. We encourage residents and organisations to store the untouched food hygienically and make sure it reaches the needy,” said Sultan Al Shehi, Manager of Saving Grace (Hefth Al Ne’ma), an initiative under the umbrella of UAE Red Crescent Authority launched in 2004.
“This Ramadan, we have collected an average of 10,000 kilos of food every day which gets delivered to various families. We collect 1,200 leftover meals alone from the Grand Mosque after iftar,” Shehi told XPRESS.
According to him, The Saving Grace distributed 175,592 meals last Ramadan. His organisation also donated seven tonnes of raw meat, 145 tonnes of vegetables, 3.5 tonnes of rice and 28 tonnes of oil, macaroni and other foods last year. These were items that were nearing expiry and donated by various organisations.
Saving Grace has a fleet of 18 vehicles that collect cooked leftover food from hotels, wedding parties and other functions throughout the year for distribution to needy families.
“Individual families can contact us for collecting food if the wasted food amounts to at least 50 meals. It is impossible for us to go from door to door for collection, which is why we encourage people [with smaller quantities of food] to pack lef-over meals and distribute them in their neighbourhood or to poor labourers,” said Shehi.
“We have systems in place to check the hygiene of food to ensure it is healthy for consumption. Our staff is trained by the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and our vehicles have deep-freezers to prevent food being contaminated during transportation,” he added.
Organic wastagee makes up approximately 39 per cent of total household wastage in Abu Dhabi. This leads to an increase in the percentage of wastage in the landfills and an increase in carbon emissions and a subsequent impact on climate change.
In line with this year’s United Nations Environment Programme World Environment Day theme; ‘Think. Eat. Save’, the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has called on the public to reduce food wastage in the capital by adopting habits to avoid excess. The agency has joined hands with the Saving Grace initiative to donate approximately 250 meals of safe leftover food to needy people in Abu Dhabi daily over the next five years to reduce food wastage and the ‘food print’.
Call toll free 800-5011 to participate
Top 10 tips on how to reduce waste
1 Cook less: Make enough food for the number of guests at the table. If you are six people, don’t cook for 10.
2 Measure your portions: This removes the guesswork by suggesting how much to cook which will lead to cooking the needed amount and not throwing away
excess food.
3 Plan your meals
4 Be aware of expiry dates: Keep an eye on the ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ dates
5 Don’t go grocery shopping when hungry
6 Make use of leftovers: Go online or get creative ideas
7 Be a food-saving hero: Make the most of the food you waste
8 Avoid piling up your plate: Be sensible when choosing what to eat
9 Feel for others: Remember there are always people out there who are in need of food
10 Compost your food waste
Courtesy – Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi
