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FMCG brands give back

10628773_810267272357421_8000347369148165847_oNew figures from the country’s largest hunger relief organisation, Foodbank Australia, show major Australian brands are continuing to support relief efforts for natural disasters.

In 2014, for the first time, Foodbank’s partners contributed more than 30 million kilos of food, with December being Foodbank’s biggest month ever for rescue volumes at more than two and a half million kilograms.

Some of the products which increased in 2014 included fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, eggs, soup, pasta, and noodles. In total Foodbank was able to distribute enough food for 40 million meals or 110,000 meals a day.

Foodbank said that thanks to support from well known food companies such as Unilever, Nestlé, Parmalat, Lion, and SPC Ardmona, it was able to assist local communities impacted by these disasters, getting vital supplies to the front line charities providing emergency relief.

Items provided included cereal, milk, muesli bars, instant noodles, coffee and tea supplies. In addition,  Foodbank said companies such as Kimberly-Clark and Johnson & Johnson came through with essential items such as nappies and toilet paper.

Jason Hincks, CEO of Foodbank, said: “Foodbank is able to react quickly in the wake of cyclones, bushfires and the other extreme weather events that are such a violent feature of Australian life. Over the first three months of the year, we’ve responded wherever we’ve been needed and the food industry has been right there with us answering our call for additional supplies.”

Gary Dawson, CEO, Australian Food and Grocery Council, said “It’s great to see so many well known brands coming together and using Foodbank to act as a critical conduit between the food and grocery industries’ desire to help and the emergency relief sector’s need during times of crisis. It’s hard to imagine another organisation like Foodbank that would have the scope and scale to achieve something like this across such a wide area.”

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