It’s Our Purpose to Fight Hunger Across the Globe

The idea that fresh food – the basic building block of health and wellness – is inaccessible to people around the world is unacceptable. Whether it’s due to location, lack of financial resources, the result of a natural catastrophe or the overall state of the economy, hunger is a constant state for more than 2 billion people. At Lineage, food is our business. And as the world’s largest temperature-controlled logistics company, we see it as our essential duty to get food to the people who need it.

While feeding people everywhere is a responsibility we act on every day, this September we’re highlighting Hunger Action Month as a platform to make an impact on how the public perceives hunger and issues such as food waste and food insecurity.

Despite what some may say, hunger isn’t caused by a lack of overall available food, and it isn’t caused by individual choices. Hunger is a stigmatized situation for those who suffer from it – and this stigma has led to a misunderstanding of how hunger is defined. To understand hunger, we can begin by understanding what circumstances contribute to it.

Food deserts are areas that lack essential fresh food.

Food deserts are usually urban geographic areas where residents have few to no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. Created by distance, pricing and time constraints, these areas primarily offer prepackaged foods that are high in both carbohydrates and fat. Disproportionately found in high-poverty areas, food deserts create everyday hurdles that can make it harder for kids, families and communities to grow healthy and strong.

One of the most unfortunate aspects of food deserts is that there is ample fresh, healthy food on the planet to feed everyone the right way. The challenge of getting fresh food to those who need it most is made even more difficult by food waste throughout the supply chain.

We all lose when food is wasted.

Food waste refers to food that completes the food supply chain and is ready for sale and consumption but ultimately does not get consumed. It is estimated that up to 1 billion tons of food goes to waste each year.  

Not only is this tragic when considered among the issues of world hunger, but nearly 10% of the total global carbon emissions each year is linked to food that just goes to waste. As Lineage is dedicated to not only feeding the world but also reducing energy use within the cold chain, eliminating food waste is one of our most committed goals. It’s why we’re working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, along with countless other groups around the world, to drive the reduction of food waste in the supply chain.