"US (AZ): "Unwanted" produce imports put to good use"
When the food is not sold, however, it can languish at local warehouses, headed for landfills.
“If the products look bad, we dump them,” said Fernando Rodriguez, who works in sales at Franks Distribution in Nogales.
“If I know the product is consumable, we donate them,” he added.
That donated produce provides a lifeline for many outlets that deal with hunger in Southern Arizona.
For example, more than 200 food-distribution companies throughout Southern Arizona send unwanted produce to the Borderlands Food Bank in Nogales. That accounts for approximately 25 to 40 million pounds of food that otherwise would be dumped into landfills each year.
The Borderlands Food Bank works with the distribution companies at its warehouse in Nogales to take the produce and give it to people who need it. The food bank has set up a program throughout southern Arizona, Tucson and Phoenix, called Produce on Wheels – With Out Waste. (P.O.W. W.O.W.). It’s like a farmer’s market that runs on donations. Anyone can come and contribute $10 to shop for up to 60 pounds of produce.
Yolanda Soto, the chief executive officer and president of Borderlands Food Bank, said that progress has been made in coping with food waste.
Read more at Nogales International