Food Forward South Africa aims to divert surplus food from landfills by redistributing it to those in need. Food loss and waste is a significant problem in South Africa, with 95% of all wasted food being dumped before reaching consumers—yet millions suffer from food insecurity. Food Forward addresses this issue through a number of innovative programmes that make use of technology and cost-effective, environmentally effective business models to redistribute food to those in need. The project has been successfully implemented, and currently directly reaches an estimated 500 thousand people.

One third of the food in South Africa goes to waste, while over 14 million people suffer from hunger. Although the country technically produces more than enough food to feed all citizens, thousands of businesses operating in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry ordinarily generate huge amounts of ‘waste’—typically food that becomes surplus due to fundamental weaknesses along the consumer goods value chain. Surplus food is not rotten, expired or low grade, it is nutritious food still fit for consumption that is lost due to overproduction, poor forecasting, specification requirements, poorly labelled products, short-dating, damaged goods or errors in manufacturing. About half of food loss occurs during the harvesting phase, while a further 45% of loss takes place during the packaging, distribution and retail phases. Only 5% of food waste can be attributed to consumers. For this reason, Food Forward SA focuses its efforts on the pre-consumer phases. By 2027, food waste will be completely banned from landfills in South Africa; Food Forward aims to inspire farmers and suppliers to divert surplus food instead of dumping it moving forward.

Food Forward has a number of programmes that aim to end hunger in South Africa through reducing food loss and waste. The ‘Warehouse Foodbanking’ programme sources, collects and stores surplus food from various points along the value chain, ultimately redistributing the food to Beneficiary Organisations across the country, which in turn use the produce to prepare meals. The ‘Second Harvest’ programme reaches out to commercial farms, allowing them to donate any surpluses following harvest. The organisation then partners with manufacturers to make long-lasting products, like jams and sauces, in the case that huge quantities of fresh food is donated. Food Forward has also developed digital technologies, such as FoodShare (a platform that connects beneficiary organisations to retailers for the reporting and collection of surplus stock) and Mobile Rural Depots (a model that facilitates increased food access for vulnerable rural communities). 

The organisation has seen great success, with 20.4 million meals given, 5 115 tons of food distributed, and 255 170 beneficiaries fed daily in 2019/2020. Revenue has topped expenses by about 3.1 million rand (approximately 166 thousand euros). Of all the food given, about half was distributed through their Warehouse Foodbanking programme, 35% through the digital platform FoodShare, and 15% through the School Breakfast Programme for elementary-aged children. Due to extensive cold chain capacity, including refrigerated trucks, cold rooms and fridges and freezers in-warehouse, the organisation was also able to store and redistribute high quality frozen goods, as well as cold meats and cheeses.