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Campaigner lives on leftovers to raise awareness of food waste


Claudia Elliot

Claudia Elliot

A campaigner with CAFOD has pledged to live on leftovers for one week during Lent to highlight how much food UK consumers waste.

Claudia Elliot, 25, is giving up buying food and hopes to survive on leftovers from her colleagues for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But if that is not enough, she will search for thrown-out food in dustbins.

Claudia said: “In the UK we throw away so much food. We don’t value it enough or understand what has been sacrificed to get food to our table. I hope my Lent challenge to live on leftovers for seven days will make people realise just how much food we throw away – enough food to feed other people. With millions hungry in the world that isn’t right.”

There are an estimated 870 million people worldwide without enough food to be healthy and live an active life. The majority of these live in developing countries. In the UK consumers throw away up to 50% of the food they buy every year. And while a British family will spend around 10% of its income on food, in a developing country that figure rises to 70%.

Claudia, from East London, joined CAFOD’s campaigns team last year and helped launch the charity’s Hungry for Change campaign that calls for improvements in the global food system to help people in the poorest countries. For her Lent challenge, she has asked 20 work mates to share their leftovers with her. But if they don’t have enough to share, Claudia will try her local pub’s kitchen for waste food, or search in dustbins outside supermarkets and sandwich shops.

She added: “Since working with CAFOD I have realised how scarce food is for many people in poor countries. Here in the UK I don’t have to be afraid about going hungry, but many people in poor countries live with that fear every day. This Lent, for a short time, I might get an idea of how that feels because I will not know for sure where my next meal will come from or how much food I’ll get each day.”

Claudia will be living on leftovers from February 23 – March 1 and blogging every day about her experience. Follow Claudia’s Lent challenge story online: http://blog.cafod.org.uk/2013/02/22/hungry-for-change-living-on-leftovers-for-a-week/ and on Twitter @CAFOD

CAFOD’s Hungry for Change campaign is calling for fundamental changes in the global food system so that power is more justly shared between rich and poor people. We are asking Prime Minister David Cameron to put food at the top of the global agenda. During this year’s G8 and Hunger Summit we are calling on him to put power back in the hands of the poorest people, and to influence other powerful G8 nations to do the same.

Hungry for Change campaign asks:

· We all must look at the choices we make about what we eat and buy. We are all part of the global food system and by choosing food that is local, sustainable or offers small-scale farmers overseas a fair deal - and reducing the food we waste and eating less meat - we can all make a difference;

· The UK government must ensure ‘empowering aid’ - which helps small-farmers, especially women, speak up for their own needs and supports initiatives such as farming co-operatives - is a UK and global priority;

· The UK government must ensure global food companies report on their impacts on human rights, and ensure workers in global supply chains get a fair deal;

· The UK government must include global food companies in the new statutory register of lobbyists so that we can all see how companies seek to influence government policy behind closed doors.

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