00:00So across this Christmas period there's a large amount of people that reach out to us
00:07through our agency network.
00:09We support over 900 agencies across Australia and what they do is make sure that the food
00:15that we rescue gets into the hands of the people that need it most.
00:19That number is up to about two in five now throughout this festive season.
00:24Food insecurity appears to be much more common than people might think.
00:28What does it mean to experience food insecurity?
00:32So food insecurity is a spectrum so it can range from people who are having to make more
00:37distinct choices on how they're eating and what they're eating, whether they're going
00:43out for dinner as much or whether they're buying from a marked down item compared to a fresher
00:49item and that can go right through to people that legitimately have no idea where their
00:53next meal is coming from.
00:55How does Second Byte rescue food and get it to the people who need it?
01:01Second Byte works with growers, producers and especially some of the retailers like Coles.
01:06We rescue surplus products that may otherwise be headed towards a landfill and we make sure
01:12that we get that through our network to the agencies and directly out to the people that
01:16need it most and we do that through every state in Australia.
01:19And how did this project begin? It's been going for some time now.
01:25Yeah, so Second Byte began about 20 years ago and it started a market in Melbourne through our
01:31founders who saw that there was a large amount of surplus fruit and veg available at the end
01:38of each of the market that was heading towards a bin if it wasn't sold.
01:41They started rescuing that, giving it out to a local charity nearby and it's just grown and
01:46grown and gone from strength to strength since then.
01:48And why does so much food go to waste in Australia? Is there anything everyday Australians can do to help?
01:54Absolutely. It's, I think it's when we are doing our shopping and doing things like that,
02:00we are looking at items that they are still really good to eat, but we're not wasting them.
02:06We're not throwing things out. We may be making sure that we're purchasing the right amount and
02:10not just buying too much and then throwing it out. In Australia, for example, we produce
02:15just about three times the amount of food that could feed the country each year.
02:19And we still have such a large foods insecurity problem that there's clearly enough food there.
02:24We just need to be making sure that we're looking after it and managing it as best as we can,
02:28all the way through the supply chain and right to the home.
02:31Getting it to the people who need it. Thank you so much for joining us.
02:34That's Matt Rifle from Food Rescue Organisation Second Bite.
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