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Mars Ireland Launches 'Food for Change' In Partnership With FoodCloud

By Donna Ahern
Mars Ireland Launches 'Food for Change' In Partnership With FoodCloud

Mars Ireland has today launched ‘Food for Change', a campaign to support the redistribution of 60,000 meals to community organisations across the country in partnership with Irish social enterprise, FoodCloud.

Food for Change will see Mars Ireland make a contribution of €20,000 to FoodCloud, supported across the Dolmio and Uncle Bens brands in participating retailers, the compnay said.

With 1 million tonnes of food wasted in Ireland each year, to a shocking value of €1.5 billion, Food for Change builds on the successful partnership between Mars and FoodCloud, in place since 2018, and is in addition to 79,000 meals (or 34 tonnes) of food product Mars has contributed to date through FoodCloud’s redistribution service, reaching in excess of 600 community groups across Ireland, it added.

Increased Demand 

FoodCloud has seen demand for its services increase by over 50% since the initial lockdown restrictions were put in place last year.

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“Recent research carried out in January 2021 with our charity partners identified that 67% of respondents expect that the level of demand for food will continue in 2021. As the pandemic continues, the problem sadly has by no means gone away as we become increasingly aware of the economic and societal impact that COVID has had," said Aoibheann O’Brien, co-founder and head of Partnerships at FoodCloud.

"This is a great initiative as people are all looking for ways to support the most vulnerable people in their communities at this challenging time,” she added.

Global Goal

The partnership also plays a role in the delivery of Mars’ global goal to provide 1 billion more healthy meals to dinner tables, supporting families around the world, by the end of 2021. To date, Mas has delivered 991 million meals globally and is committed to sustainability in the food chain and to meaningfully improve lives in the communities where they operate.

“Family mealtime is so hugely important, especially at the moment, and at Mars, we believe everyone should have access to simple, nutritious meals. Mars’ Food for Change program, and our renewed partnership with FoodCloud to support their incredible work; empowering communities to thrive and feeding kindness, is part of that," said Aoife O’Hanlon, portfolio manager at Mars Ireland.

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"We believe this partnership helps to raise awareness about the issue of food poverty, especially during this time of uncertainty. It is just one commitment Mars is making for a more circular economy as we work towards our own goals, which include a commitment to 100% of plastic packaging to be recyclable, reusable or compostable, and eliminating unsustainable water use in our value chain, starting with a 50% reduction by 2025,” she added.

The campaign is now live in SuperValu, Dunnes Stores and Tesco.

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