The UAE Food Bank's first location in Al Quoz is currently on a trial phase, and awaits its official opening once operations are ready, a top Dubai Municipality official said.
Noura Al Shamsi, Head of Permits and Applied Nutrition Section at DM, said a system has been laid out and five charity organisations are currently participating in the trial phase.
"The location and the app that will facilitate the donation process are ready. We are just currently looking at the gaps that need to be filled and what we can do to develop the concept," said Al Shamsi, without stating the timeframe in which the location will be ready.
The container, which is the first of five set to launch by the end of the year, will be the connecting point between Dubai Municipality and charity associations.
The municipality will arrange trucks to collect surplus food from hypermarkets, hotels and food establishments and place it by the container, from which charity organisations will be able to collect the food and distribute it to the needy.
Within the next three years, the food bank will have 15 containers across the country to facilitate the food collection process from food entities to charity organisations.
Announced in January, the UAE food bank aims to eliminate food waste, making Dubai the first city in the Middle East to achieve zero waste by distributing surplus fresh and dry food to those in need at both a local and regional level.
During its first five days, the UAE Food Bank signed agreements with 85 hospitality-sector entities, including hundreds of restaurants and over 100 supermarkets. The bank's containers will help in distributing daily products, and a main container will store long shelf-life products.
However, specific locations of the branches are not yet disclosed. As for the food unfit for donation, Al Shamsi said it will be converted to energy and fertilisers.
"The key is to limit food waste as much as possible," she said.
Food bank's awareness campaign in Ramadan
While supervisors and health experts of food establishments and the municipality will collaborate to ensure the food donated foll-ows safety requirements, it will be difficult to have such control on households.
This is why, Al Shamsi said, awareness programmes will be launched during Ramadan as part of the food bank to reach out to different communities across Dubai.
The locations aren't set yet, but Al Shamsi said densely populated residential areas will be targeted to educate residents on ways to reduce food waste and the type of food that can be donated.
"There is specific high risk food that cannot be distributed, such as salads for example," noted Al Shamsi.
An app is also launched to facilitate the donation process. Bobby Krishna, food safety specialist at DM, said the smart system will track the food from its source till delivery.
The app will enable food entities to notify the municipality with the quantity of food available for donation. "In return, charity asso-ciations will be up to date with food available," said Krishna.
The smart system will also help keep track of meals donated throughout the day. Individuals will be able to register as volunteers through the app.
'Heafz Al Na'mah' grown to UAE Food Bank
Dubai Municipality's food donation initiative "Heafz Al Na'mah," was launched during Ramadan before the UAE Food Bank came around to extend the move to a year-round.
The initiative sought to regulate the process of distributing the excess food from Ramadan tents and large events held in hotels and restaurants to be distributed to the needy families and individuals.
Haefz Al Na'mah had grown throughout the years, benefitting 11,000 people when it first started in 2005 to 150,000 in 2015. The surplus food was donated to Emirates
Red Crescent, Ro'yati Family Society, Tarahum Charity Foundation and Al Maktoum Foundation.
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