The logics of surplus food redistribution

Abstract

Surplus food redistribution has been promoted as a way of reducing food waste and food poverty. Informed by an exploratory qualitative case study of third sector actors in north east England, this paper explores the logics of surplus food redistribution. The framings and qualities (logics) ascribed to surplus foods as they flow through the food chain are examined, following an economy of qualities approach. Existing literature constructs surplus food and those involved in its utilisation as beyond market mechanisms and relations. This is challenged by the research that suggests the practices are never independent of their market attachment and reflect a continuum of food system flows and relationships, concerning the management of economic, environmental and social qualities and relations. The paper concludes that unless a distinction is drawn between genuine waste to be recovered and surplus to be redistributed for community benefit, surplus food as a resource is unlikely to be fully utilised.

Keywords:

• surplus food redistribution
• qualities
• food insecurity
• food waste
• England

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the referees and Editor for their guidance and the support of Newcastle University's Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fund.

Notes

1. A later report sponsored by the UK Government recommended the “Productive recycling of surplus food deemed as non-premium quality”, which differentiated between the “redistribution of good quality surplus food to consumers” and “food no longer fit for human consumption” being re-used in animal feed or energy production (Foresight 2011, 19).

2. One industry-led organisation ceased operation in 2001, and another organisation, the Intervention Board, was a public body that redistributed certain products to charities from the EU surplus food scheme; however, the UK Government no longer subscribes to this scheme.

3. ‘Otherness’ is a widely used concept in the social sciences that recognises the marginalisation that can arise from perceptions of difference based on social, cultural or economic relations and also prevailing institutions and structures.

4. Since the research was completed there have been failed Parliamentary attempts to regulate and increase the amount of surplus food donations (Hansard 2012a, 2012b, 2012c).