Frito-Lay Inc.
11/19/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/19/2021 15:00
Food for Good steps up its fight against global hunger
November 19, 2021
PepsiCo is partnering with communities worldwide to make nutritious food accessible to 50 million people by 2030.
From its humble beginnings as a Dallas community program started by a few enterprising employees back in 2009, Food for Good has grown into PepsiCo's global initiative for advancing food security, delivering millions of meals to communities in need. And now, it aims to do even more.
PepsiCo has announced a new goal to make nutritious food accessible to 50 million people around the world by 2030 through the Food for Good program. The ambitious goal is part of the company's pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) transformation, which is putting sustainability at the core of everything we do.
And there is no time more important than now. Recent estimates show that roughly 800 million people worldwide are food-insecure in 2021 and more than 40% of the world's population cannot afford a healthy diet. A global pandemic that disrupted food chains, caused food prices to spike and led to the loss of hundreds of millions of jobs has only exacerbated the problem.
"The world is facing a dire global hunger crisis," says Jon Banner, Executive Vice President, PepsiCo Global Communications and President, The PepsiCo Foundation. "As a leading global food and beverage company, we have a critical role to play in realizing a more equitable global food system to ensure the communities we serve are free from hunger and malnutrition."
"As a leading global food and beverage company, we have a critical role to play in realizing a more equitable global food system."
The PepsiCo Foundation plans to tackle this new goal in the same way Food for Good has for the past 12 years - by collaborating with communities where PepsiCo associates live and work. Like in the U.S., where Food for Good partners with more than 50 local nonprofits and food banks to distribute nutritious meals to families in need. Or in South Africa, where Pioneer Foods, which PepsiCo acquired in 2020, created the Schools Breakfast Nutrition Programme, which provides a nourishing start to the day for more than 30,000 children in 35 schools across seven provinces. Or in China, where PepsiCo partnered with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and Chinese Nutrition Society to create Nutrition in Action - a program that offers meals and education to enhance the health awareness of students in rural areas of the country.
PepsiCo is also providing a $1 million grant to longtime partner World Food Programme. The funds will go toward co-creating a multi-country partnership in the Middle East and North Africa that will focus on improving the long-term food security needs of communities affected by climate change, conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
"We are grateful to PepsiCo for their decade-long partnership and steadfast support as we work to defeat global hunger," says Barron Segar, World Food Program USA President and CEO. "PepsiCo's critical investments in sustainable agriculture and building the resilience of small-scale farmers are helping us make great progress in addressing the root causes of hunger."
A Food for Good staffer packs a nutritious meal.
Food for Good is also doing that with programs such as Agrovita, which is focused on making PepsiCo's supply chains for plantain, cocoa and palm production in southern Mexico more sustainable; and She Feeds the World, which, in partnership with global poverty-fighting organization CARE, is providing 5 million female farmers and their families with training and economic support to help them increase crop yields and gain access to nutrition locally. Additionally, PepsiCo is participating in the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge, pledging to invest $100 million in positive agriculture initiatives by 2030 to help minimize waste and ensure a more resilient food supply.
Through these practices, Food for Good and PepsiCo are using their expertise and reach to work towards the goal of reaching zero hunger around the world.
"We are proud to leverage our global capabilities in collaboration with local community partners in new ways," Banner says. "But it is just one step in a long journey toward realizing zero hunger and ensuring a sustainable future for all."