Bureau Veritas Group’s Post

With today being World Food Day, let's explore the significance of this global event and how it aligns with the work of Dads House charity which Delancey is proud to support. 🌍 World Food Day raises awareness about hunger and promotes efforts to eradicate it. It emphasises the importance of food security and sustainable agricultural practices for a better future. 🚜   Dads House is a charity that supports single fathers and their families, recognising their vital role in children's lives. They provide practical support, advice, and access to resources, creating a nurturing environment for children to thrive. They actively promote food security by collaborating with food banks and organising cooking workshops. 👫 📺 Watch William Mcgranaghan, Dads House Founder, talk to Bloomberg Originals about the impact of the cost of living on food security. Here's how you can get involved and support Dads House: 1️⃣ 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒓: Dedicate your time and skills to assist Dads House in their programs and initiatives. 2️⃣ 𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆: Financial contributions help Dads House provide essential services to those in need. 3️⃣ 𝑺𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅: Share the inspiring work of Dads House to raise awareness and encourage others to get involved. Delancey is supporting the Tuesday Lunch Club at Dads House and our team is volunteering one day every week to support the food bank. Our platform business, The Earls Court Development Company is supporting them with a free unit at Earl Court to operate from.   Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those facing food insecurity and create a brighter future for all.   #DelanceyRealEstate

It is always a special moment when I get to collaborate with my Partners in Food Solutions (PFS) family, and what better way than to celebrate 15 years of partnership between General Mills and PFS. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with how PFS came to be, I encourage you to watch the video below (spoiler alert: a special group of General Mills employees had something to do with it). It is an incredible story of innovation, determination and standing for good. #GStandsForGood #iwork4generalmills #FoodSecurity

I recently visited a local food bank. It is a food bank that picks up produce at a local grocery store. They used to pickup meats near expiration too. They have freezers and as an under-supplied, overburdened food bank, the need is definitely present. In the last six months the same grocery store stopped discounting meats to 50% and started only discounting them to 30%. I know for a fact this has led to greater discard of expired meat. They no longer allow the food bank to pick up near expiration meats. People who wouldn’t be able to afford those foods in the first place, imaginary profits and losses that never existed are their “reasoning” for throwing food away instead. People in need are not the enemy. People in need aren’t hoarding their money greedily and eagerly waiting at the donation doors. The (potential) merger of Albertsons and Fred Meyer terrifies me. They’re already coordinating their sales to justify “see we’re competing with each other and will keep doing so if you let us merge” What all shoppers have realized? Their prices were heavily inflated since first word of this merger to allow “sales” that don’t lose them a penny. Grocery prices are already unattainable for many and only worsening.

Today we are launching our manifesto ahead of the General Election, calling on the next Government to commit to delivering more surplus food to those in need. Titled “Where’s the Food? Strengthening Communities Through Surplus Food Redistribution”, the manifesto lays out measures to incentivise businesses to redistribute more of their surplus, proposals to support the redistribution sector and strengthen communities in the process, and a plan for a wider food system reset. We are calling for: 💚 Subsidies for farmers to cover redistribution costs 💚 Tax benefits for businesses donating surplus food 💚 Mandatory food waste reporting 💚 Clear guidelines for ‘good samaritans’ on food donation safety 💚 Sustained funding for farm level food redistribution 💚 A UK-wide plan to end charitable food aid 💚 Resources for local food waste and food security projects By working together, government, the third sector, and industry can overcome the challenges to redistributing surplus – and ensure more food reaches the people who need it. To read the full manifesto and show your support for it, please click here 👉 https://bit.ly/3U5AZWP

Volunteering and #foodsharing go hand in hand, as most of the time one cannot exist without the other. In the latest webinar from our Food Sharing Stories ICLEI Europe discussed with FoodCloud and Boroume how they implement and manage volunteering practices in their everyday work. Learn more and watch the video here: https://lnkd.in/dud-6g8S

"The first step to counteract this waste is to ask questions and identify what is being squandered in your area. What resources are being wasted? How can they be rescued and redirected to help your community? If there are existing nonprofits that address this general issue, consider if there are areas they’re not covering, or people not being served." https://lnkd.in/gkpr4GeQ

Our team passionately embraced the spirit of volunteerism on International Volunteering Day (5 Dec) by packing Christmas hampers for Foodbank SA & NT. With unwavering dedication, we packed almost 1000 Christmas hampers containing the essentials for families in need. According to Foodbank Australia's latest hunger report, 3.7 million households across Australia went to bed hungry this past year—more than all the households in Sydney and Melbourne combined. In SA alone, over 255,000 households struggled to put food on the table this year. Almost 1 in 2 Australians have felt anxious about accessing adequate food or struggled to consistently access it. We are fast heading towards a reality where more than half the population will know what food insecurity is because they are experiencing it themselves. We hope that each hamper we packed brings some relief and joy to families who are struggling to put food on the table, as well as the promise of a brighter year ahead. If you too would like to support those seeking food relief, please visit: https://brnw.ch/21wEOw4 There are many ways to get involved - and every bit of help makes a difference! #IVD2023 #GlobalAxis #CommunitySpirit #FoodbankPartnership #Foodbank #ChristmasHampers #Christmas #XMAS2023

Food Waste Prevention Week, with activities around the country, was a great success, especially for a grassroots movement. My favorite part was a series of webinars -- I have the one on community fridges queued up! I hosted one myself -- "How Vacations Can Boost Food Donations" -- and got great ideas from the audience. The more I'm in this mission, to reduce food and item waste in vacation rentals, the more I see how many people are onboard with the idea, but also how challenging it is to achieve. That never stopped me before! Onward and upward! Here's the video if you're interested! https://lnkd.in/eM2EH-8W

It’s Joy of Giving month at Fortnum’s - when we encourage all our people to give their time to help out. Yesterday morning I joined Alex, Amy and Georgia from the team here in Piccadilly to sort and distribute surplus food at The Felix Project’s Deptford Depot in south east London.   Seeing Felix in action for the first time, the scale of our food waste problem is breathtaking. According to the founder of Felix the wonderful Justin Byam-Shaw “our food industry generates 223,000 tonnes of edible food surplus each year - but only 7% of this reaches the people who need it.” A lot of this surplus is unnecessary. We all know that perfectly good fruit and veg is rejected by our supermarkets (and to be fair, by their customers) all the time for being wonky or marked or inconsistently sized, but until you actually see what that rejection means in pallet-loads, it’s easy to assume that the system of food production and distribution in the U.K. is highly efficient. Well it isn’t. And we saw thousands of examples in just one shift yesterday.   The opportunity to help put that good quality food into the hands of those who really need it - individuals, social kitchens, schools and hostels, the elderly - seemed a chance too good to miss. We sifted through vast quantities of fresh produce, sorting the good from the bad (nearly all perfectly good) and grocery products by Use By and Best Before dates, so that they could be delivered in green Felix vans as a high priority. We worked hard - I’m not sure Georgia, Amy and Alex need to see another potato for a while, and I feel the same.   In terms of Fortnum’s contribution, we are hoping that by the end of September, our people will have completed 300 hours’ worth of volunteering time for 3 fantastic organisations: The Felix Project; Centrepoint UK (combatting youth homelessness) and The London Wildlife Trust. Not bad for a relatively small business, and I know alot of fun has been had and new friendships forged along the way.   If you have given up your time this month to help others, 👊 good on you.   #teamFortnums #volunteering #thefelixproject #sustainability #foodwaste #joyofgiving

Be the Change! Explore the hidden gems of volunteering for young adults in our latest blog. From personal growth to social change, we explore the importance of volunteering as a young adult and shaping a brighter future. 🌟 https://lnkd.in/dQ2xb4bZ