Federacja Polskich Bankow Zywnosci

Our Mission

The Federation of Polish Food Banks is a public benefit organization whose mission since its establishment 20 years ago has been to prevent food waste and malnutrition in Poland. 31 Food Banks, which operate throughout the country form the Federation of Polish Food Banks. They are all NGOs with the status of an Association. Together, they form an Association with status of public benefit organization. The Federation is a community voluntarily created by various, autonomous Food Banks. Their common values and activities are supported and represented by a democratically elected Board. Food Banks associated in the Federation specialize in obtaining, transporting and distributing food products. Thanks to their large-scale daily operations, they obtain 50,000 tons of food annually, which is then distributed among over 1,600,000 most needy people through 3,500 aid organizations and social institutions. The food is obtained, among others, from producers, farmers, retail chains and as part of food collection campaigns. The organization also actively works to prevent food waste and promote healthy eating through educational activities addressed to various social groups, including social campaigns and workshops. Food wastage has many aspects. It can be considered as a social, ecological and economic problem. From a social perspective, a basic question is that many people do not have access to good quality food that would satisfy their health-related needs. Paradoxically, many people cannot afford to buy food while at the same time tons of whole food are discarded. However, food wastage has above all an adverse effect on the environment. Food production, processing and delivery to shops and homes of consumers entails water, energy and fuel consumption. Discarded food means wasted hectoliters of water and wasted energy used for its production, transport, storage and preparation. Food is wasted at every single stage of its production and distribution with consumers being responsible for over 50% of food wastage. Minimizing the scale of food waste requires actions to be taken to alert people about reasons and consequences of throwing food away. Apart of main activity concentrated on collection and distribution of food, educational projects, research project and initiatives aimed at creation of national law supporting reducing of wasted food belong to our strategic goals. The above additional but also crucial goals are described in document presenting information about three main categories of our activity.

Federation of Polish Food Banks realizes its mission through:

- Searching for sources of surplus of food, - Acquiring food, including products with a short shelf life, - so-called non - commercial products, incorrectly packaged, whose nutritional value is beyond doubt - Storage of received products and their rational distribution to organizations, not individuals - Promoting attitudes that counteract the utilization of food or food waste - Large-scale initiatives having impact on modifications of national law aimed at reduction of food waste (National Act against waste of food, which came into force on 1th March 2020)