Save food and stop wastage; while there are conservation measures practiced for water, environment and many other resources, an NGO in the Sultanate of Oman is taking steps to preserve, conserve and recycle food.
Located in Azkaban, the objective of Oman Food Bank (Dayma) is to preserve food and get the most benefit of it in every way, cooked, raw or preserved.
Dayma began its operation in March 2022 and so far they have distributed more than 11,000 meals. The initiative is the brainchild of Ibrahim bin Abdullah al Hosni. The bank salvages food and redistributes.
Many of course wonder if such an initiative would encourage others not to be cautious when planning food for gatherings and should the public be given awareness on the impact of food waste. In this regard, however, the corporate world is seeing the benefit of this initiative for society. Sohar Islamic recently signed an MoU with Oman Food Bank to enhance awareness on the preservation of food and provide food to those in need with the ultimate objective of attaining social solidarity.
The agreement also aims to spread the culture of the importance of preserving food security and providing food and distributing it to needy families in order to achieve the concept of social solidarity.
For the team at the Food Bank, time is of at most importance.
“We have to collect the food in 20 minutes and distribute it within two hours. The food has to be consumed within these two hours,” said Ibrahim, marketing in charge.
“Ideally it would be perfect if people would notify us in advance because we have to go through processes and we can be prepared. When we are called first, a person checks on the quality of food and once approved the label with the details and time are stuck on the package. We have a team to collect the food. In case someone calls in advance but on the day there is no food left, it is fine with us,” he added.
Dayma has another line and that is to do with canned food. They pack cans in a basket and hand them over to the recipients. So far they have distributed 1,045 such baskets to families.
As of now, the collection and distribution is conducted all over Muscat. But they are planning to expand to Al Buraimi, Dhofar and Suhar. And that means expansion in the team.
“We have employees, at the same time we are open to volunteers to provide us the support with whatever they are talented in,” explained Ibrahim.
Meanwhile another line they are developing is recycling food that cannot be consumed. They have the process to convert food waste into compost.
