29 SEPTEMBER - FAO INTERNATIONAL DAY ON FOOD WASTE

SINCE 2017 MORE THAN 32,000 MEALS DONATED, RECOVERING THE FOOD SURPLUSES OF THE BRAND RESTAURANTS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE BANCO ALIMENTARE NETWORK

Milan, Italy, September 28– One third of the food produced is wasted every year worldwide. Unfortunately, this is a consolidated fact, a worrying evidence against which everyone's commitment is increasingly needed, from producers to the final consumer. KFC Italia has been involved for over 3 years in the recovery of food surpluses from its restaurants, in collaboration with the Banco Alimentare Network.

More than 260,000 pieces of chicken have been recovered since 2017, equal to over 32,000 meals donated by 15 restaurants of the brand in 8 regions, from north to south, and destined for as many organizations that assist disadvantage people in the area.

With the Harvest program, KFC is the first fast food company in our country to undertake an initiative to recover and donate surplus food. This is already active in one third of the restaurants in Italy. The program will expand in the coming months to all 42 restaurants in the country.

KFC also involves its customers in its commitment to combat food waste. In fact, in all KFC restaurants in Italy, customers are invited to take home the chicken they have bought but have not consumed: they can take it away, with great simplicity and comfort, in the iconic containers in which KFC fried chicken is served, the buckets , to consume it later. Also for this project KFC received the aegis of Banco Alimentare.

“We continue to expand the Harvest project in all our restaurants because we are convinced that it is a concrete way to help those in difficulty and a dutiful commitment against food waste. - says Corrado Cagnola, CEO of KFC Italia - The people who work in restaurants are happy and proud to dedicate a part of their activity to the recovery of surpluses. And even our customers, who for several months we have wanted to raise awareness on the issue of waste, have welcomed the initiative that allows them to take away what they have not consumed in the restaurant. Small concrete gestures that make the difference."

Harvest is a simple and very rigorous system. KFC's chicken that is not sold during the day is collected in special bags for food use and labeled with information relating to quantity, type of product and expiration date. The packed chicken is then frozen and stored in the negative cells inside the restaurant, until it is collected by Banco Alimentare, which transports it, in special thermal bags, and delivers it to the recipient structure of the donation in the area. The chicken is then distributed still frozen and packaged to people assisted by charitable organizations or reused by the structures themselves to prepare meals in their canteens.

A WORLDWIDE PROJECT SINCE 1992
Around 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger and a third of the food produced globally is wasted every year: a quarter of wasted food would be enough to feed all those who need it. Harvest is a project that Yum! Brands Inc. launched globally in 1992 and to which KFC joined in 1999, recovering and donating more than 85 million meals to date and involving over 4300 non-profit organizations in 30 countries.