Food waste reduction and donation were top of mind this past week for several reasons. First, MGM Resorts International announced that it has donated five million meals into the community since 2016, marking the achievement of a 2025 social impact and sustainability goal well ahead of schedule. In 2023 alone, the company donated more than 1.2 million meals to feed food insecure people in local communities.
The five million meals were donated through the MGM Resorts Feeding Forward program. Many were the result of grants to organizations that focus on hunger relief and funded meals donated to local nonprofit organizations. Other donations involved rescuing unserved food from multiple points along the company’s food and beverage operations and safely delivering donations into the communities in which MGM Resorts operates across the United States.
The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act provides uniform national protection to those in our industry who act in good faith to donate, recover and distribute excess food.
José Andrés & The Hospitality Show
Second, internationally recognized culinary innovator, author, educator, and humanitarian José Andrés has been announced as the opening keynote-session speaker for the second iteration of The Hospitality Show, produced by Questex and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).
In a discussion on Monday, October 28 titled “Changing the World Through the Power of Food,” Andrés will share his passion for affecting positive change, along with his belief in the principle that “food is a basic human right.”
Andrés is a committed advocate of food and hunger issues and has championed the role of chefs in the national debate on food policy. In 2010, Andrés formed World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit specializing in delivering food relief in the wake of natural and humanitarian disasters. The organization has since delivered over 350 million meals worldwide.
A Dangerous Humanitarian Mission
The work of World Central Kitchen was brought to light in a big way in April when seven of its workers were killed as a result of strikes from Israeli armed drones. The workers were leaving one of World Central Kitchen’s warehouses on a food delivery mission.
Third, this week I had an opportunity to chat with Ignacio Ramirez, Managing Director Americas at Winnow, regarding his company’s food waste management software that utilizes artificial intelligence to track and help reduce food waste in hotel kitchens.
Ramirez told me that hotels waste about 5 percent to 15 percent of the food they take in and serve to guests. Be sure to be on the lookout for my article on food waste management software.
Finally, be sure to check out the Hotel Kitchen website to learn how to cut food waste in your hotel kitchen. The site is the result of a collaboration between the World Wildlife Fund, AHLA, and The Rockefeller Foundation.
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