Focus on food security

“Foodbank is there to make sure the help to get food is there. And then the community can heal,” Mr McNamara said.

For many, the lockdowns in the COVID-19 pandemic were the first time they had experienced food insecurity, as supermarket shelves were stripped of everyday essentials.

Since then, a number of factors have contributed to the rising cost of food in Australia.

The impact of COVID on supply chains and the war in Ukraine have been global drivers of increased prices.

The National Food Supply Chain Alliance says that domestically, natural disasters and labour shortages are compounding factors causing food prices to likely remain high for the next 12 months.

Mr McNamara said increasing food prices were part of the larger cost-of-living crisis that Australians were facing.

“It used to be that it was people on the street, but now it’s people in your street who are affected by this,” he said.

One way to tackle increasing food prices and food insecurity is by reducing food waste.

In Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted each year, which is about 320kg per person, according to the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre.

If every Australian slashed food waste by 30 per cent, experts say consumers would save more than $33 billion and prevent 12 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

As an individual, there are also steps you can take to make sure your food goes further.

It is still possible to eat a healthy diet on a budget by buying the right amount of food, making sure you store it properly and eating your leftovers.

“If you can’t afford meat look at some plant-based proteins, things like beans and legumes that will give you the same proteins as meat,” Mr McNamara said.

When it comes to packaged food, best-before dates, unlike use-by dates, are a guide, indicating the product will have deteriorated a marginal amount but is okay for consumption.

“You can really expect to eat most foods six months after their best-before date,” he said.

He suggests common sense and paying attention are the best ways to determine whether food is fit to eat.

For packaged food, families combining to purchase dry staples in bulk and dividing them can be effective. This not only reduces the price, but also fosters a sense of community.

On a larger scale, Mr McNamara said there were many compounding factors that contributed to food waste, such as transport.

For many farmers the cost of transport does not stack up when moving the product off the farm.

Mr McNamara said that by increasing the tax deductibility of food transport, food could be moved to where it was needed efficiently and cost-effectively.

“There are a lot of things inhibiting people donating food and that can be used to reduce food waste and ensure that people that are struggling can get access to the food,” he said.

“You get a lot of food loss from farm to market place … that’s why organisations like Foodbank are so important, that we cover some of the costs for the farmer and then bring that food back so we can distribute it because it is still healthy, good food.”

Mr McNamara said food security was vital to the social fabric that held people together as a community.

“I think it’s a time to both celebrate Christmas, that we have gotten through so much over the last three years, but also be cognisant of the fact that there are others out there that are really struggling,” he said.

“For Seymour, for every community, knowing that people care is the big thing and you shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help because we all need help at some point.”