What do you with fruits and vegetables that are almost expired? Some people would choose to simply throw them away. After all, we could always purchase and enjoy fresher and better-tasting fruits and veggies. But who knew that these things we take for granted could actually be one of the solutions in fighting world hunger? Enter the FoPo Team, where Filipinos Gerald Perry Marin and Erliza Cabisidan are part of.
Gerald Perry Marin in an interview with CNN Philippines
They have found a way to transform expiring fruits and veggies to food powder! And this is not just one of the food fads we’ve been seeing and enjoying all over the country. This invention could help many people during the time of relief operations and even in feeding programs. In the own words of the FoPo Team:
FoPo gives new life to expiring fruits & veggies from groceries by drying & powdering them, saving food waste & help end world hunger!
How exactly do they do this?
Armed with knowledge about food technologies, we know that bacteria causes spoilage, and bacteria loves water. By drying the food, we can save it from being expired. Hence, we explored different drying techniques for fruits right before expiry, use pulverizer to make powder, and POOF! We created FoPo food powder – a delicious food powder that extended the shelf life of food from 2 weeks to 2 years, maximize logistics distribution due to its powder form, and still retain the nutritional content of the food!
Why do they do what they do?
They were “disturbed by the fact that the number of people who are hungry are increasing despite record highs in world food production.” They also shared how 40% of the fruits and vegetables produced go to waste. From this, they thought of using the food waste as a solution to solve world hunger. “With a few clicks in the internet, and some visits with relevant contacts working on food waste, we saw that groceries and local farms are throwing a lot of food. Fruits and vegetables which do not look good, or are spoiled, are immediately thrown away,” they said.
Would you enjoy eating powdered fruits and vegetables?!
The idea of eating powdered malunggay might not sound so appealing, but serving suggestions by FoPo itself makes going healthy look not so bad after all!
How does the Philippines benefit from this?
The FoPo team decided to establish the business in the Philippines. Both the public and the private sector have already agreed to work with the FoPo Team! “26 supermarkets signed the letter of intent to work with us and 10 local market stores we surveyed would donate their expiring fruit and veggies. 3 universities offered their laboratories for shelf-life and nutritional testing for free. The Philippine government is also involved in this cause. They will help in piloting FoPo in a poor community,” they said.
The FoPo Team has flown to the Philippines this July and will perform pilot testing. They aim to work with NGO’s, too. “We will explore on possible key tie-up with NGOs willing to purchase our product for humanitarian aid missions, etc. and pilot it in a relief operation.”
For their goals to materialize, they need your help!
The FoPo Team is now conducting a Kickstarter campaign.
Your support will transform this amazing idea into reality! This is our opportunity to make a change. By supporting FoPo, you can help us provide an affordable yet high nutritional value food to the poor, ideal for humanitarian aid or feeding programs in the Philippines and other developing countries. You are also helping solve the world hunger not by cutting down trees and producing more food, but by saving 40% of the food we waste.
If you want to help, you could visit this page and see how you could support them!
What do you think of their invention? What are the things you regularly do to solve world hunger? Let us know in the comments below!
FoPo Food Powder
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fopofoodpowder
Twitter: @hellofopo
Instagram: @hellofopo
