The Malaysian Insight

THE national Food Bank Malaysia programme will be rolled out around the country next month, Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.

Saifuddin said that Putrajaya aims to have a new law that complements the programme by the end of next year.

“The rollout is in January. We will run this official ministry programme nationwide with some strategic partners.

“We hope that at the end of the year, the government will also have a new law that regulates the food bank programme and its activities of saving surplus food and distributing them to the needy.

“We don’t have one yet. There is space for further improvements,” he said in a press conference after the programme’s launch at the Caring Society Complex in Penang today.

The new law, Saifuddin said, would be presented at Parliament latest at the end of next year.

He said it would cover all aspects, including protecting food donations from possible problems that might arise.

“It is like a good Samaritan law. Before we enact it, we have to study how other countries have done it. France has gone way ahead in this. Other countries include the UK, Australia, South Africa, and Singapore.

“We need to learn how to create a new law that suits our context. For example, we must take only halal food from hotels so everyone can eat the food.

“Hopefully, we will be able to table the bill for this new law at the year-end Parliament sitting next year,” he said, adding that with such a law protecting donors, more businesses would be encouraged to contribute to the food bank programme.

Saifuddin said the ministry had run the food bank pilot project for a month in seven states earlier this year, and only managed to save 945 tonnes of food, compared to the 3,000 tonnes of food waste a day.

“The Mutiara Food Bank saved 300 tonnes in a year. That is a small amount.

“A lot of food is still being wasted. So we need a law that gives donors a guarantee that they will be protected,” he said.

The national food bank programme was launched today by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was representing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The programme is modelled after the successful MFB programme in Penang, which Saifuddin started last year when he was strategic advisor to Lim, who was then still chief minister.

MFB started with taking surplus food – unsold vegetables, fruits and baked goods from Tesco hypermarkets around the state and Kulim. It then sorted and distributed them to needy households.

The Penang food bank now benefits 31,429 people across 14 constituencies in the state. It has also saved 234 tonnes of food and 87 tonnes of baked goods from being wasted.

Saifuddin said recipients of the food aid will mainly be identified via the federal government’s e-Kasih poverty database.

In Penang, the pioneering MFB identified the over 31,000 recipients through the i-Sejahtera database, state welfare department, Zakat Pulau Pinang, and other sources like welfare activists and mosque and village committees.

“This programme is very helpful to recipients. It is something that can more or less help lessen the financial burdens of poor families.

“MFB’s success shows how well this programme is doing,” said Saifuddin.

During the launch of the national food bank programme, MFB also launched its new central kitchen at the Caring Society Complex, a state-owned facility. The kitchen will handle surplus food sent by hotels, restaurants and caterers.

The donated cooked food, prepared in excess by businesses, will be kept in a chiller room, re-cooked and reheated by chefs from the Penang Chefs Association, and then packed for distribution to recipients around the state, including the mainland.

The central kitchen is how MFB is taking the food bank programme to the next level.

“MFB has been able to grow because the Penang government supports it by giving allocations and the space to operate and expand. If we can duplicate this model in every state, it will be most ideal,” he said.

Saifuddin also said the operation to collect the “rescued surplus food” would be centred around urban areas, where most donors like the hotels and businesses were located.

Then, the logistics would be sorted out to ensure the food aid reached recipients in the rural areas as well, he said.

Saifuddin said the food bank programme will also further encourage volunteerism among the people, namely those supporting the programme.

Those who would be onboard included civil society groups, youth and student associations, and volunteers from various government agencies,” he said.

“These groups had already come forward to offer help when the ministry was running the pilot project.” – December 22, 2018.