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Costa Cruises Food Donation Project Now Active Also In Barcelona
Today, Costa Cruises, together with Banc dels Aliments deBarcelona, has presented its donation project for the food that has been preparedand not served on board. As a result, Barcelona becomes the first port in Spainto develop this collaboration. Since its inception in other Mediterraneanports, this initiative has managed to give a second life to more than 70,000 foodservings.
The action isa fundamental part of 4GOODFOOD. This program, developed on all the ships ofthe Costa fleet, through the review of processes and the involvement of crewand guests, is halving the surplus food generated on board by 2020, ten yearsbefore the date proposed by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development.
Barcelona, November 22, 2018. Those dishesprepared on board a ship that have not been served to guests now have a newlife. Banc dels Aliments of Barcelonaand Costa Cruises start acollaboration agreement whereby these dishes will be distributed, thanks to theBanc dels Aliments, between NGOs in the Barcelona area to help the people inneed.
The gastronomy onboard is a fundamentalaspect of a cruise, in fact, Costaprepares about 54 million meals a year. In this context, the company wanted totake a fundamental step and recognizethe value of food resources and develop a project to reduce food waste.With this program, Costa has wantedto completely review all the processes of its catering service and reform themin all its ships, using an integrated system based on sustainability ensuringthe proactive commitment of crew and passengers.
According to the FAO, the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, almost a third of the foodproduced worldwide ends up being lost or wasted. This could equal to the wasteof 1.3 billion tons of food. As a result, 4GOODFOODwas born with the objective of reducing by 50% the food surpluses generated inCosta ships by the year 2020.
4GOODFOOD is a powerful program thatconsiders every aspect of the preparation and consumption of food on board. Asa starting point, Costa began withthe review of all the internal processes for creating dishes. Priority wasgiven to sustainability and the selection of quality local and seasonalingredients. Next, in collaboration with Winnow,specialists in process optimization in professional kitchens, Costa has included new scales in allits kitchens and has made a register with the aim of mapping, quantifying andanalyzing the waste generated during the processing and preparation of thefoods. To carry it out successfully, the training of almost 2,400 kitchenemployees on how to reduce waste and apply sustainable processes has been crucial.
The company has also developed an awarenesscampaign on board, Taste don't Waste,which directly involves guests and encourage responsible behavior, especiallyin the buffet area. After almost one year of its implementation on board theCosta ships the results are in line with the expectations.
Costa Cruises, recognizing the success of thisprogram, is aware that there is still a certain part of the food prepared onboard that is not served to the guests. Because of this, the company wanted todevelop, as part of 4GOODFOOD,collaborations with different food banks in the ports where it operates in theMediterranean. Therefore, after Savona, Civitavecchia, Marseille, Bari andPalermo, Costa presents, together with Bancdels Aliments, the arrival of this donation project to Barcelona, one of the most important port of the Mediterranean.
In this way, Costa selects those dishes, from their excellent gastronomy, whichare ready to be consumed and have been prepared in the kitchens the nightbefore they arrived in Barcelona. The food is placed in aluminum containerswhich are sealed and labeled for traceability and are kept in cold refrigeratedrooms until delivery. The next morning, in the port of Barcelona, the containersare handed over to the Banc delsAliments volunteers who distribute them to different associations, Fundació Acollida i Esperança and the Hogar Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, which,in turn, offer the collected food to people in need.
During the presentation ceremony, Stefania Lallai, Costa Cruceros' Directorof Sustainability and External Relations explained: "At Costa, we understand that it is essential to recognize theindispensable value of food and today we can take a new step in the fightagainst food waste. In this sense, and in accordance with the objectives setout in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we intend to halve thesurplus food generated aboard our ships by 2020, ten years before the UnitedNations' established date. We are very grateful to the Banc dels Aliments deBarcelona for making it possible in Barcelona, the most important port in theMediterranean, and we are confident that the collaboration will be a success."
Additionally,Roser Brutau, president of Banc delsAliments de Barcelona, explained:"We are very grateful to Costa Cruises for having made this project areality. This initiative marks a new impulse in the work that we have beencarrying out for more than 30 years. A work that we carry out in a solidary andsustainable manner and that allows us to distribute food surpluses amongmultiple entities in the Barcelona region. "
Lucía Parreñodel Moral, technical director of Fundació Acollida i Esperança, said: "Our foundation, based in Badalona, is a non-profit organizationand we seek to serve people who suffer social exclusion. This initiative is agreat opportunity for us and a great example of a collaborative economy thatallows us to offer quality food and benefit many families in the region."
For further information:
CostaCruises
Press Office - Tel. 010 5483523/ 010 5483068 - costapressoffice@costa.it
Gabriele Baroni – Communication Director – Cell 3497668013 - baroni@costa.it
Davide Barbano - Media Relations Manager – Tel.010.5483523 – Cell 334.6525216 - barbano@costa.it
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