On Tuesday, Princess Marie visited FoedevareBanken – the Danish Food Bank – in Copenhagen, as part of her involvement in the fight against food waste in Denmark. The NGO’s motto is “From Food Waste to Meals” (‘Fra Madspild til Maltid’).
FoedevareBanken is a nonprofit organisation fighting food waste and food poverty in Denmark. It was founded as a voluntary association in January 2008. The organisation is the first initiative amongst the Nordic countries to not only reduce food waste systematically and on a large scale, but also provide healthy food to socially disadvantaged people. The Danish Food Bank fights food waste while ensuring better food to socially disadvantaged people in Denmark: “On the one hand, huge amounts of food are discarded on a daily basis in the food sector. This means a waste of resources and it causes a great strain on the environment. On the other hand, some of the most disadvantaged people in our society are often denied the opportunity for a daily and nutritious meal, which is of vital importance to their health.”
© Anders Brinckmeyer
Princess Marie was received by Karen-Inger Thorsen; Managing Director, John Køppler; and Project Manager, Marie Uldall. During the visit, she visited the Food Bank’s warehouse and was given an introduction to how the Food Bank and the organisation’s 250 volunteers handle surplus food from industry and food producers and allocate it to schools organisations for socially disadvantaged in Denmark. They also have stores in Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Kolding. The organisation doesn’t receive food that is over the consumption date but food that – for many different reasons – cannot be sold. This may be due to errors on the label, seasonal items, overproduction, short date or other conditions.
Princess Marie also had the opportunity to see a van being filled with a lot of sweets that were going to be delivered to socially disadvantaged people later in the day. She also met some of the volunteers who spoke about their work at the Food Bank.
After her visit, Princess Marie said to Billed-Bladet: “I am very impressed that so many volunteers work here. They help to distribute food to the whole country. It is a very good organisation”. When asked about Princess Marie’s visit, the Food Bank’s Director Karen-Inger Thorsen said: “We met a very dedicated and knowledgeable princess who clearly burns for the area of food waste and who was very well-prepared. A great pleasure!”
