NAIROBI — What does food waste have to do with childhood malnutrition? Consider these two facts:

• There is enough food to feed every person on the planet, yet nearly one-third of all food produced globally each year is lost or wasted.

• Almost 50% of all deaths among children under the age of five are caused by hunger.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is working to solve both problems simultaneously. In Kenya, vegetables that were previously thrown away purely for their looks are being transformed into nutritious school meals.

Over four months, the UN World Food Program helped rescue more than 11,000 pounds of green beans, snow peas, snap peas and broccoli  —  enough to feed 2,200 children for 75 school days.

Each day, 83 tons of produce grown on Kenyan farms is rejected after being deemed aesthetically imperfect for export. That’s the equivalent of 600,000 tomatoes — ugly but edible — which mostly end up in landfills.

“These are vegetables that are either oddly shaped, longer or shorter than the desired size for packaging, or simply blemished, but perfectly nutritious and fit for consumption,” said Dina Aburmishan, a WFP nutritionist in Kenya.

In January of 2017, the UN World Food Program launched a pilot project to change the destination of these ugly vegetables from landfill to lunch, by diverting them into the country’s school meals program at three schools on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Rescue mission

During the pilot phase, dubbed ‘Transformers’, the UN World Food Program’s implementing partner, the Dutch company ENVIU, helped connect the project to two companies that supply the European market.

Instead of discarding the undesired produce, the companies delivered part of it to The Good Food Company, a Nairobi-based catering company contracted by the UN World Food Program, where it was cooked up and delivered to the three schools.

“Whether in poverty or in plenty, children should go to school,” said Evelyn Mudenyo, director of Little Bells, one of the primary schools that participated in the project.

Evelyn is a firm believer in the power of school lunches to keep kids in school. “Without school lunches, these children would end up on the streets. The green vegetables are a welcome addition  —  the food is more nutritious.”

The new menu was also appreciated by students. “My parents leave early in the morning and don’t return till evening,” said 10-year-old Caleb. “If I don’t have lunch at school, I won’t eat anything until evening. Vegetables are nutritious and healthy. The plain mix of corn and beans isn’t as tasty.”

Next steps

The UN World Food Program is using the lessons from this pilot to explore new ways of working with fresh food exporters in order to give schools access to this inexpensive source of vegetables, while tackling the issue of food waste.

While the UN World Food Program tested off-site catering in the first phase, the next step will explore on-site food preparation. This gives schools more ownership of the programs  —  a prerequisite for the eventual handover.

“One thing we know for sure is that the students like the vegetables,” said Dina. “Now we have to figure out how to harness this wonderful source of cheap, fresh food that is being wasted, in order to supply school meals in an affordable and sustainable way. — UN News/WFP