The Real Junk Food Project (TRJFP) is a British organisation that uses food that would otherwise have been discarded from

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s, and other independent food suppliers to produce meals that are sold in its cafes and other food outlets. TRJFP aims to raise awareness of the huge amount of

food waste The causes of food going uneaten are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during food production, production, food processing, processing, Food distribution, distribution, Grocery store, retail and food service sales, and Social clas ...

in the

food system The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growi ...

. A

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approach aims to make its food accessible to everyone. The project was founded by Adam Smith in Leeds in 2013. It originally included food that had past its use-by-date, but since 2017 it has said it no longer does so in preparing meals for the public.

Cafes

The first Real Junk Food Project cafe was started in Armley, Leeds, in December 2013 by Sam Joseph, Conor Walsh and Adam Smith. Since its opening, this cafe has fed over 10,000 people using over 20

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s of unwanted food. The Project now has a network of cafes, which are staffed by volunteers. As of 2015 there were more than 100 throughout the UK, including in

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Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

No longer serves food past its use-by date

During an inspection of its Leeds warehouse by West Yorkshire Trading Standards, 444 out-of-date items were found. The project was at risk of prosecution for infringing the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations while serving produce past their

expiration date An expiration date or expiry date is a previously determined date after which something should no longer be used, either by operation of law or by exceeding the anticipated shelf life for perishable goods. Expiration dates are applied to some f ...

. Adam Smith argued that one million people had been fed by the project without anyone becoming sick. As a response to the matter, Feedback, another UK organisation rescuing food waste, expressed support for The Real Junk Food Project by stating that "the real crime here is the waste that is caused when people throw perfectly edible food away". The Project said it would "no longer provide food past its use-by date to the public."

Awards

*2017: The Real Junk Food Project in Birmingham, Manchester and Northampton were runners-up in the

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Food Monthly Awards *2018: The Real Junk Food Project in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham were runners-up in the Observer Food Monthly Awards *2018: The Brighton cafes won two golds and a silver in the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Awards. *2018: Runner-up in

The Food Chain The Food Chain is a London, United Kingdom-based charity who provide nutritional support services for people living with HIV in London. Formed on Christmas Day 1988, its stated aim is "to ensure people living with HIV in London can access the nu ...

's 2018 Global Food Champion Award in the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Junk Food Project, The British food and drink organisations Food waste in the United Kingdom Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom 2013 establishments in the United Kingdom

Cafes

No longer serves food past its use-by date

Awards

See also

References