Did you know that an estimated 20% - 40% of fruits and vegetables is rejected by supermarkets, mostly because of the way they look?
The outcome of recent research conducted by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) showed that 4.7 million people in the UK were living in food insecure* households. *Food insecurity is experienced when a household is uncertain about whether they can acquire a 'sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways'
Combine record high inflation, rising food prices, soaring energy bills and increasing fuel costs, and people are being forced to choose between basic living necessities. In millions of cases, this results in people not purchasing the food they need for themselves and their families.
Furthermore, according to a recent study by WRAP - the UK hospitality, households, and food services produced 9.5 million tonnes of food waste - 70% of which was intended to be consumed by people.
What does this look like?
Well, every day in the UK we throw away approximately:
- 20 million whole slices of bread (equivalent to 1 million loaves)
- 4.4 million whole potatoes
- 2.7 million whole carrots
- 800,000 whole apples and the list simply goes on…
What is Ohh Deer doing to help?
Ohh Deer is proud to have partnered with UKHarvest - a wonderful charity who works to feed those who need it most by rescuing and re-distributing surplus food that would otherwise go to waste.
We worked closely with UKHarvest and our talented artists to carefully design some wonderful Christmas Card Packs, with a share of each sale going directly to this fantastic charity!
To date, UKHarvest has delivered 8 million meals to charities and individuals, educated 20,500 participants, supported 350 charities, and rescued a whopping 2.25 million kilograms of surplus food, as well as saving 9,500 tonnes of CO2e from being released into the atmosphere!
This wonderful charity is on a mission to Nourish Our Nation! They aim to protect the environment and overcome food poverty by fighting food waste, creating opportunities, and teaching low-cost cooking. Each person connected to UKHarvest believes that good food should not go to waste, and that we must each play a role in helping vulnerable people within our communities.
You can learn more about UKHarvest's work and uncover more food waste facts on their website here.