Hunger and food waste continue to be a problem not just here in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world.
To address this Global Food Rescue Foundation Scholars of Sustenance is bringing its food-driven sustainability event "Zero Summit" to the Philippines.
That's happening on Tuesday, August 8th, at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Joining us now live in the studio is James Leyson.
He's the Managing Director for Thailand and the Philippines at SOS.
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To address this Global Food Rescue Foundation Scholars of Sustenance is bringing its food-driven sustainability event "Zero Summit" to the Philippines.
That's happening on Tuesday, August 8th, at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Joining us now live in the studio is James Leyson.
He's the Managing Director for Thailand and the Philippines at SOS.
Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/
Follow our social media pages:
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hunger and food waste continue to be a problem, not just here in the Philippines, but in also
00:04 other parts of the world.
00:05 To address this, Global Food Rescue Foundation Scholars of Sustenance is bringing its food-driven
00:10 sustainability event, Zero Summit, to the Philippines.
00:13 And that's happening on Tuesday, August 8th, at the Virgis North.
00:17 Am I correct?
00:18 That's correct.
00:19 Okay.
00:20 Joining us now live in the studio is James Lason.
00:21 He's the managing director for Thailand and the Philippines at SOS.
00:25 Good morning, James.
00:26 It's great to have you.
00:27 Good morning.
00:28 Thanks for having me.
00:29 So exciting stuff.
00:30 But before we talk about the summit that set the stage, paint a picture for us of how pressing
00:35 a problem food insecurity is here in the Philippines.
00:38 How many households are actually experiencing this and how are we measuring this?
00:41 Maybe I would say when we gathered the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority,
00:46 they said that the average budget for food every month for a family of five is 8,379.
00:54 That's around, that was in 2021.
00:56 Right.
00:57 So that's 18 pesos per person for a family of five.
01:01 And if you would imagine that budget.
01:03 It's impossible.
01:04 It's impossible now.
01:05 It's impossible.
01:06 Imagine the price of the rice and other food.
01:08 So it's not.
01:09 So when we look at the data from National Nutrition Council, as of last month, they
01:15 said that the budget for food for every day for a family of five is 1,212 pesos.
01:22 That's 80 pesos per person per meal.
01:24 So imagine that kind of situation per family to survive on each day.
01:30 It's a huge disparity over what you need and what you actually have.
01:34 Correct.
01:35 Listen, the Zero Summit was launched in 2021 in Thailand.
01:38 It's the first time that it will be held here in the Philippines.
01:42 Obviously it's off to measurable, great results in Thailand and hopefully we want to replicate
01:50 that here.
01:51 What can we expect from this year's summit and what will be covered?
01:54 Sure.
01:55 For the Zero Summit, it's going to be a gathering of key industry leaders from different sectors,
02:00 particularly on the food industry, because that's where we want to rally these people
02:05 in terms of it's about time to address the food waste problems in the industry.
02:09 Also we've invited people from the government sector, from the academe, and also from the
02:16 civil society, different organizations, because what we want to happen on that summit is to
02:20 discuss what is the current problem, what has been done, or what are we doing right
02:25 now, and what can we do next.
02:27 Right.
02:28 I mean, we have the problem.
02:29 The problem is hunger and the funny thing is we've got so much food wasting away.
02:36 Tell us more about this year's theme, Zero to Hero.
02:38 Yeah, so Zero to Hero is an aspiration.
02:41 What we want is from nothing to doing something, to becoming a hero.
02:46 Because right now, there has been some work.
02:49 Let's acknowledge that, but we need more, because there's a lot of food being wasted.
02:53 Almost two tons of food every single day is wasted just in Metro Manila.
02:58 Can you imagine that?
02:59 And look at the poverty issue, the undernourishment in our country.
03:02 The solution is looking us right in the face.
03:04 We just have to figure out how to make it happen.
03:06 Correct.
03:07 Now, as with other summits, events like this, there's always a goal.
03:09 The vision is to achieve zero food waste and zero hunger by 2030.
03:13 That's a seven-year road map.
03:14 Can we do it?
03:15 Can we get it done?
03:16 It is possible.
03:17 It's always possible.
03:18 It all depends on how or what we will do together.
03:22 Again, what we're reiterating here is that we cannot do it alone.
03:26 It has to be a unison.
03:28 It has to be all of us doing together, because it's not achievable by just one sector.
03:33 It has to be done by different sectors.
03:36 All of us, even households, individuals, can participate and can contribute to the success
03:42 of this.
03:43 It is possible.
03:44 Here's a great start.
03:45 You've always been at the forefront of efforts to end hunger with your food rescue program,
03:50 your rescue kitchen program.
03:53 Like you said, this is something that we all have to do together, whether on an individual,
03:57 personal basis, or even better, larger organizations, businesses have figured out how to take their
04:02 food waste and put it to not even good use, proper use.
04:08 Yeah, that's correct.
04:10 Since we're operating in three countries, we already served 30 million meals as of last
04:14 month across the three countries.
04:17 Here in the Philippines, we already served 625,300 meals after operating for nine months
04:22 only.
04:23 That's amazing.
04:24 We're just running one truck.
04:25 Can you imagine if we have more trucks?
04:26 We can really rescue a lot of food and feed more communities.
04:29 Right.
04:30 See, there's an opportunity for everybody to get involved here on whatever level that
04:35 you can.
04:36 How can people get involved as far as the summit goes and as far as getting themselves
04:40 involved in your SOS or Scholars of Sustenance program?
04:43 I would say the biggest involvement we want to encourage from people is really participate
04:48 from their own.
04:51 Avoid wasting food.
04:52 It's the biggest participation we can get from any individuals.
04:56 For businesses, we would encourage them to start thinking about donating their surplus
05:00 food.
05:01 We're not talking about leftovers or really those waste.
05:05 We're talking about good quality surplus food that they really throw.
05:09 It's about time.
05:10 There is an organization expert, proven concept already that they consider and be part of
05:17 so that we can rescue their surplus food and save our environment and feed the people.
05:22 That's the way to do it, really.
05:23 The first start, obviously, is to get yourself informed.
05:27 Be part of the solution.
05:29 Attend this summit.
05:30 It's a great way to start things off.
05:32 Thank you so much, James, for joining us this morning here on New Day.
05:35 Thank you very much.