How does it work?

How do businesses donate surplus food

Every month, Kaibosh redistributes 65,000kg of good, rescued kai to people in need in our local communities. We can only do this with the generous support from over 90 food businesses who regularly donate quality surplus food.

If you are interested in donating food to Kaibosh, please read the information below and get in touch.

What food do we rescue?

  • Fresh produce
  • Frozen or fresh meat (excluding raw chicken)
  • Dairy products, including milk
  • Eggs
  • Frozen foods
  • Pre-packaged foods or meals in unopened, original packaging
  • Catered food that has not been served
  • Sandwiches, bread and bakery products
  • Non-alcoholic beverages

What food don’t we rescue?

  • Food that is no longer fit for human consumption due to decay or spoiling
  • Food that is past its ‘Use By’ or ‘Expiry’ date
  • Cooked food not prepared in a commercial kitchen
  • Catered food that has been served (on a buffet or similar)
  • Shellfish and other high risk seafood
  • Raw chicken
  • Food in damaged or open packaging which may compromise food safety
  • Foods or beverages containing alcohol
  • General rubbish e.g. cut scraps, vegetable peelings

Food rescue processes for businesses

  • Contact us to discuss the food donation you’d like to make. We’ll give you:
    • Information about the foods that Kaibosh does and doesn’t rescue,
    • Official food donation advice from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI),
    • A Memorandum of Understanding which outlines Kaibosh’s and your responsibilities when donating food.
  • Once you’re signed up as a food donor, we’ll arrange a pick-up schedule that suits you. This may be a regular pick-up each day or week, or an ad hoc pick-up when you have food to donate.
  • At the arranged time, our driver will collect your quality surplus food in our Kaibosh food rescue van.
  • Donated food is taken to our premises, where trained food sorting volunteers check it for quality before getting it ready for our community group recipients to collect the following day.
  • Food that doesn’t meet our quality standards for passing on to community groups is donated to animal sanctuaries – Black Sheep Animal Sanctuary, The Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust, Ngā Manu Nature Reserve and others – or is composted.
  • We follow the Food Recovery Hierarchy – surplus food should feed people first, then animals, then if not fit for humans or animals it is composted.
  • Food is handled and stored in line with the highest food safety standards throughout the entire process.

Important information

  • Please note that we have a 20kg minimum for food pick-ups. Drop-offs of smaller amounts of food are accepted during business hours (contact us).
  • Kaibosh does not accept any food past its ‘Use By’ or ‘Expiry’ date, or food that is no longer fit for human consumption.
  • Kaibosh is unable to guarantee availability for one-off food pick-ups and reserves the right to decline any food donation.

 

Contact Us

 

How about Food Safety regulations?

There are no regulations stopping businesses from donating surplus food and it is safe to do so.

Please note that we can only accept food from licensed food outlets and professionally catered events – not from individual homes. Kaibosh holds itself to the highest food safety standards and we’ll work closely with you to make sure that we get the best result for all.

Find out more on MPI’s website.

One-off donations of surplus food

At Kaibosh we do take one-off and ad-hoc food donations from licensed food businesses, but we can only accept certain types of food outlined above.

Public donations of food

We can only accept fresh home-grown vegetables and fruit from the public.

If you would like to donate surplus from your home garden or community mara kai, we’d love to hear from you. Contact your nearest Kaibosh site.

If you have fruit trees with seasonal surplus Community Fruit can help you out. They will pick the surplus and bring it to Kaibosh so we can disrtubute to local whānau in need.

For household grocery/pantry items to donate please contact an organisations who can accept these e.g. DCM in Wellington, local community centres or food banks. Or, join the growing movement of Pātaka Kai (community food cupboards) – search for your nearest one online here: patakakai.co.nz.