Kellogg and Mercado Libre in food donation partnership to fight hunger in LATAM
The cereal and snack manufacturer said it would donate around one million portions of its food to more than 130,000 beneficiaries in 18 states in Mexico.
The company will also donate around one million products to food banks located in seven Latin American countries through the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN): Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Jessica Daniel, head of philanthropy for Kellogg Latin America, said: “This support is intended to strengthen feeding programs for people with limited resources."
The donations would also take place through 15 volunteer events with its employees and their families and a food collection, according to the company.
"Our consumers can also join this celebration by donating in cash through the Mercado Pago platform of Mercado Libre. This money will go to the Food Bank Network of Mexico (BAMX). For every peso the consumer donates, Kellogg will contribute a portion of their food,” Daniel added.
The portion-per-peso donation is in addition to the two million meals, and the food could be any food products from Kellogg’s regional LATAM portfolio, a spokesperson for the company said.
Kellogg, which in 2018 generated sales of around US$13.5 billion, said it chose to partner with Mercado Pago and Mercado Libre for the initiative because it was interested in the way the donations could “transcend traditional mechanisms, reaching new platforms that, by their nature, give visibility and greater scope”.
Action for World Food Day
The donations, which will be taking place throughout October and November 2019, were organized to coincide with World Food Day, a day of action aimed at tackling world hunger, according to its organizers, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
“By 2050, the world population will grow above 9,500 million people, so food production will be largely deficient,” the spokesperson told FoodNavigator-LATAM. “This situation makes it essential to make decisions in the present that make the future viable.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the number of undernourished people in Latin America has doubled year-over-year since 2015.
Meanwhile, last month, Mexican bakery giant Grupo Bimbo announced its commitment to donate 1.5 million slices of bread to institutions that fight hunger and food waste around the world, equivalent to more than 93,000 loaves of bread.
The donation came as part of its Global Energy Race. For each kilometer ran by every participant, Grupo Bimbo said it would donate two slices of bread.
The Global FoodBanking Network was founded in 2006 by four foodbank organizations from Mexico, Canada, Argentina, and the US, and today is present in more than 30 countries. Each year, it says it ‘rescues’ over 500 million kilos of food annually to feed 9 million people. General Mills, PepsiCo, Unilever and ADM are also partners.
According to GFN, around 20.4 million tons of food produced in Mexico are currently lost or wasted.
