In light of World Food Day, Produce Alliance, BB #:159218 a leader in produce procurement and distribution, announced its new partnership with Copia, a technology solution connecting surplus food to nonprofits in need. This partnership enables Produce Alliance to donate pallets of fresh produce and prepared food to community members in need.
Food is the single largest component taking up space inside US landfills, making up 24% of municipal solid waste. At the same time, over 38 million people in America are struggling with food insecurity. Food waste and hunger are inextricably linked issues and can be solved through technology and logistics. Copia has built the first end-to-end solution that directly addresses both. By donating through Copia, Produce Alliance is providing equitable access to nutritious produce to communities in need and, instead of dumping perfectly edible food, Produce Alliance also reduces carbon emissions and accesses meaningful enhanced tax deductions for their end customers.
“Produce Alliance is excited to offer our partners this first of its kind technological, national, scalable solution to food waste at every point of the supply chain. The benefits of this program from sustainability, environmental concerns, to doing the good I want our company and partners to pursue and even folding in a tax benefit to those who participate, it seems like this is sustainability solution I have always been searching for,” said Melissa Melshenker Ackerman, president at Produce Alliance. “With Copia’s groundbreaking solution, restaurants, hotels, schools, airports, grocery stores, distributors, growers — really anyone who has excess product — can simply match their donation with a 501(C)3 nonprofit partner, in a matter of seconds, taking away hours of back and forth work. This match creates a seamless opportunity to prevent food waste while providing a sustainable, dignified supply chain to not-for-profits who can immediately use it to help those in need. “
After just a few donations, Produce Alliance has donated 15,000 pounds of food to local nonprofits in need, reduced 67,000 pounds of carbon emissions, and saved over a million gallons of water.
“Copia’s partnership with Produce Alliance is creating a new level of innovation to procurement and distribution supply chain,” says Kimberly Smith, CEO of Copia. “The donations from Produce Alliance are feeding entire communities, many who live in food deserts without regular access to fresh and nutritious produce. We are so proud to be supporting an organization whose entire leadership team is so intrinsically motivated to do good.”
The donations from Produce Alliance have immediately brought a great amount of joy to the communities they’re serving. A representative from Grace Klein, a nonprofit feeding the greater Birmingham Area, said, “Our partnership with Copia helps us provide nutritious food at no cost to the food insecure across Birmingham and greater Alabama. Our community greatly appreciates rescued food and celebrates when we can fill plates instead of landfills.”
World Food Day is celebrated on October 16. This is a day of action toward the collective goal of food security and nutrition for all.
About Produce Alliance
Since 1996, Produce Alliance has specialized in providing fresh produce procurement and distribution services, and beyond, to food service clients across North America, the Caribbean and beyond. By growing a network of +125 independently-owned specialty distributors of fresh products, Produce Alliance has built a community of consistency for client success from compliance to category management. The Produce Alliance relationship management philosophy from field to fork helps growers, distributors and clients set the table for excellence every step of the way. Learn more at ProduceAlliance.com
About Copia
Copia is helping people in need and our planet by making it easy and beneficial to reduce waste and donate surplus. Copia’s technology is the first fully automated waste tracking, prevention, and surplus redistribution platform. The easy-to-use app creates operational consistency and ensures that every donation is matched and delivered to a nonprofit in need. Through Copia’s robust and actionable data, food donors are better able to inform business decisions, celebrate positive social and environmental impact, write-off meaningful tax deductions, and show legislative compliance. Copia is not only making it simple and profitable for businesses to do the right thing, but they’re democratizing food access and equity for all.
