Reprinted from May 13, 2021
First of three parts
The pandemic inspired Dole Packaged Foods to launch an ambitious new program to bring nutritious sustenance to one billion persons by 2025.
Here is how innovation is helping to close the gap on food inequality:
Fastco Works, FastCompany, writes: “It’s peak pandemic 2020, and Barbara Guerpillon, head of ventures at Dole Packaged Foods in Singapore, is watching another three-minute Zoom pitch from a start-up half-a-world away working on food sustainability.
It’s not just a business meeting. It’s a chance for much-needed human connection during a socially-isolating time, when it can be easy to forget that, globally, we’re all connected, particularly when it comes to our food.
‘“I’m a strong believer in collaboration, breaking silos from the inside of an organization and the outside of the organization,’ Guerpillon said. During the pandemic, she’s seen these silos disintegrating at higher rates. ‘With the current situation, we’ve been able to connect a lot more with people around the world, not only in our region.’
“Guerpillon puts it, the COVID-19 pandemic has ‘obtusely exposed the potential vulnerabilities of the world food supply chain.’ It’s shed light on many inequalities, including access to nutritious food, and made people more aware of how important good food is to good health.
A Complex, Interconnected, Process
“Getting nutritious food to the estimated hundreds of millions facing food insecurity worldwide isn’t just about food, however. It’s a complex, interconnected process made up of farmers in Southeast Asia; consumers navigating food deserts in Jackson, Miss.; students in Bologna, Italy; and landfills in New Zealand. All of these people and places are directly involved in what Dole calls its promise to use zero fossil fuel-based plastic packaging, end fruit loss in its supply chains, remove processed sugar from its products, and bring nutritious food to one billion persons, all by 2025. The Company aims to reach carbon neutrality in its operations by 2030.
Continued next week