Over 1 Million Pounds of Food Saved by Catholic Charities Food Rescue Program

(KNSI) – Catholic Charities Emergency Food Shelf touts its Food Rescue program’s accomplishments.

The St. Cloud-based organization has teamed up with Coborn’s, Cash Wise, Costco, Sam’s Club, and Fresh Thyme to collect produce, dairy, deli, meat, bakery and grocery items near the end of their “best by” dates and distribute them to people and families in need rather than toss it in the landfill.

Catholic Charities says there are many reasons food might not have sold, including close-dated products, dents in the cans or overstock, and although it might not be perfect, it’s good food.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Prevention of Wasted Food and Food Rescue grant helped build a new walk-in freezer. The recently added 400-square-foot freezer helped increase storage and has led to a 120 percent uptick in pounds of food collected.

In 2022, Catholic Charities Food Shelf collected 1,026,276 pounds of food through its Food Rescue program.

According to Feeding America, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States each year, which equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion. Nearly 40 percent of all food in the United States is wasted.

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