Sufficient nutritious food is unfortunately not a matter of course for everyone. And as a result of the pandemic, a record number of Belgians have to call upon the food banks. This is why FrieslandCampina is once again donating more than 20,000 dairy products to the Belgian Federation of Food Banks today. This donation will help thousands of families.
Demand for food aid on the rise
Hunger may seem far for reality to many people. But nothing could be further from the truth. Globalisation, urbanisation, climate change and political disputes all contribute to a situation in which billions of people worldwide suffer from a lack of food security. This may seem a long way off for many of us, but in Belgium too, more and more people are suffering from hunger. Moreover, the corona crisis is unfortunately pushing more and more people into poverty. Nearly 200,000 people a month are forced to collect a food package in order to survive, an increase of 15% compared to 2019.
Standing still on food security
Since 1981, World Food Day has been the day on which worldwide attention is drawn to food security. Because food security is also an important part of FrieslandCampina's sustainability policy, the dairy cooperative is once again donating more than 20,000 extra Campina and Cécémel products to the Belgian Federation of Food Banks.
Nourishing by nature
Jeroen Van de Broek, Managing Director at FrieslandCampina in Belgium: "In line with our business objective of 'nourishing by nature', one of the most important questions we are constantly asking ourselves is: how do we ensure that the growing world population can eat nutritious and affordable food in 2050 and how do we do this as sustainably as possible, with respect for biodiversity and ecosystems, and at a fair price for our dairy farmers? Dairy naturally contains essential nutrients, including proteins, calcium and vitamins, and therefore certainly fits in with a sustainable diet. Our dairy farmers and employees work closely together every day to provide as many people as possible with our nutritious milk products. In addition, we support the Belgian food banks on a regular basis because we believe that it should be possible for everyone to have a nutritious and balanced diet. With this extra donation in honour of World Food Day, we already support more than 10,000 households".