South Africa has a paradox at the heart of its food system. More than 10 million tonnes of mostly edible food are lost or wasted each year – more than a third of what the country produces, while millions of people go to bed hungry and children continue to suffer from stunting and malnutrition.
FoodForward SA, the largest food redistribution organisation on the continent, has spent almost two decades working to close that gap. It has done so by treating the problem as a question of systems, behaviour and policy as well as charity.
Partnering with FoodForward SA to reduce and recover edible surplus food is the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA), through its South African Food Loss and Waste Initiative (SA FLWI), which aims to halve food loss and waste by 2030. The initiative grew out of discussions involving more than 500 stakeholders and was launched in 2020 with support from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Its voluntary agreement invites food producers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers to measure and reduce food loss and waste across the supply chain. It also encourages businesses to redirect safe, nutritious surplus food to people who need it, including through food donation and redistribution partners. The initiative promotes prevention first, followed by reduction and then redistribution of surplus food. Its reporting platform helps signatories track food loss and waste using a locally tested, internationally aligned method.
The CGCSA and FoodForward SA (FFSA) have been collaborating on several advocacy campaigns to promote the donation of edible surplus food in South Africa. FFSA and sector role players provided input and guidance on the CGCSA’s Food Donation Best Practice Guideline, and with the championing by FFSA, proposing the development of a national standard on food donations, both partners have worked on realising the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) Food Donation Management National Standard. The national standard, now in its final stages of review prior to final publication, gives donors clear, consistent rules on handling, labelling, storage, traceability and food safety. It lets a compliance officer or a CEO say "yes" with confidence. That is what turning advocacy into action looks like: replacing hesitation with a framework that businesses can rely on.
Both FoodForward SA and CGCSA agree surplus food recovery is one of the most underrated yet powerful solutions to address food insecurity and malnutrition at scale by enabling the timeous recovery of edible surplus food from across the food system.
The most persistent myth in this space is that surplus food is leftover, second-rate or unsafe. The reality is the opposite. Surplus food is typically high-quality product that cannot be sold for commercial reasons. Examples include:
- Overproduction or forecasting errors.
- Packaging changes and mislabelling.
- Seasonal or promotional stock that did not move.
- Short-dated products that retailers cannot sell in time.
- Cosmetically imperfect produce rejected against retail specifications.
- Over-ordered stock returned by customers.
FoodForward SA (FFSA) also prioritises recovering products with a high nutritional value along with a range of food safety protocols. A tin of beans with a damaged label or a pallet of yoghurt with five days of shelf life left is exactly the same food it was yesterday. Reframing it from "waste" to "resource" is the mindset shift needed across supply chains that makes recovery possible.
Recognising the vital role surplus food recovery can play in improving food and nutrition security at scale and reducing the climate impacts of food loss and waste, the FoodForward SA / CGCSA partnership seeks to provide a framework for coordinated, measurable action by industry and government to:
- Encourage the Departments of Health and Agriculture to recognise surplus food recovery as a viable solution and support South Africans with clarity and understanding of date marking regulations, as not all dates means food must be discarded.
- Support the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in implementing its food loss and waste reduction strategies, as set out in its Food Losses and Waste Reduction policy.
- Advocate for the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to amend the Consumer Protection Act to reduce liability for food donors. Fear of liability and uncertainty about safety requirements have long been among the biggest barriers to donating.
Both partners have been persistent voices for a regulated, trusted environment for food donation. And the business case is stronger than many executives realise:
- Lower disposal costs. Every tonne diverted from landfill is a tonne a business does not pay to haul and dump, a cost that is rising as landfill space reaches capacity and regulation shifts.
- Better data and sharper operations. Tracking surplus exposes upstream problems such as over-ordering, poor forecasting, packaging errors and slow stock rotation. Fixing those saves money before a single donation is made.
- Tax and reporting benefits. Donations to qualifying public benefit organisations can carry tax advantages, and recovered food can be counted in ESG and sustainability reporting. Businesses should confirm their current position with their tax advisers.
- Brand trust and employee pride. Customers, investors and staff increasingly expect visible action on hunger and climate.
- Future-proofing. With waste regulation tightening, early movers will adapt more cost-effectively than late ones.
The CGCSA and FoodForward SA's leadership shows that advocacy works when it is tied to delivery. By pushing for a national standard, building trust with donors, and moving millions of kilograms of good food to people who need it, the organisations have demonstrated that hunger and food waste are two sides of the same problem and can be solved together.
As regulation tightens, and the policy landscape starts to shift, climate commitments sharpen, and global attention turns to food systems, the opportunity for South African business and for food security is clear. Surplus food is a resource; donating it is good commercial practice, and the same tonne of food can feed communities and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The question is no longer whether to act, but how quickly.
