Last week, Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, announced a plan to boost the nutritional content of food distributed at food pantries, including more fresh produce, whole grains, and lean proteins, reports The Washington Post.
The initiative, in collaboration with former first lady Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthier America, will also include training and the addition of storage and other infrastructure for Feeding America’s member organizations.
“As the nation’s largest hunger-relief charity, there are 46 million people, including 12 million children, who are counting on food banks for help,” Feeding America chief executive Diana Aviv said in a statement.
“Feeding America will join farmers … across the country to collect unsold or unwanted produce, and to build six or possibly eight processing warehouses to collect and distribute this food,” the Post said. “The organization will also invest in two projects to preserve fresh produce—a facility to can donated tomatoes is one possibility.”
U.S. food banks are late arrivals to the better-food movement. A 2012 study “found that almost half did not have any nutrition policies or standards in place,” according to the Post. And a study “published this month in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics concluded that modern food pantries are still ‘largely unable to support healthy diets.’ ”