Organisation to Raise Awareness about the Country's Food Waste and Hunger Challenges

Asahi Kasei – Japan’s No. 1 kitchen solutions brand – has partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a notable non-profit organisation, for its noble cause of feeding school children by introducing the ‘Wrap Up Hunger With Asahi Kasei’ initiative. Through this initiative, the brand seeks to make a meaningful impact by helping cut down on food wastage and eradicating classroom hunger by providing a nutritious mid-day meals to underprivileged children.

It is no secret that, very often, food items like extra chapati, leftover sabzi, or curry from the previous night’s meal, besides vegetable peelings, end up in the dustbin without hesitation in most Indian households. However, this food waste ends up putting pressure on the waste management systems, contributes to pollution, and even leads to food deprivation. On the other hand, nearly 4 out of 10 children are not meeting their full human potential because of chronic undernutrition, as indicated by the United Nations India. As a matter of fact, 33% of children in the country are plagued by malnourishment (UNICEF and the Global Health Database), and one of the primary reasons for this is poverty and inequality.

While it is imperative to reduce food wastage, the above data also highlights the importance of helping fight malnourishment amongst India’s underprivileged children. And to effectively tackle the twin issues of food wastage and classroom hunger, Asahi Kasei has collaborated with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to bring forth the #WrapUpHungerWithAsahiKasei initiative.

With the assistance of 1600 participants in the #WrapUpHungerWithAsahiKasei effort, we were able to feed 3 meals to more than 91,000 less underprivileged children over the previous season. Asahi Kasei is getting ready for season two in partnership with Akshaya Patra following the phenomenal success of the Season One #WrapUpHungerWithAsahiKasei campaign. Participants in this season are required to use the hashtag #WrapUpHungerWithAsahiKasei2 and share a photo of food that has been wrapped in Asahi Kasei Premium Wrap beside the product. The company provides 5 meals to Akshaya Patra’s Mid-day Meal Programme, which serves wholesome meals to children enrolled in public and government-aided schools.

Talking about the initiative, Mr. Luve Oberoi, Sr Marketing Manager, Asahi Kasei India, said, “Food is one of the most critical pillars for survival. However, the 2021 UNEP Food Waste Index Report states that 11% of food waste comes from households. Bearing this in mind, we aimed to create awareness about food wastage and classroom hunger via this initiative. By encouraging people to share a photo of food wrapped in the Asahi Kasei Premium Wrap – which preserves food for long and helps reduce wastage – and providing meals to underprivileged school children for every post, we are happy to do our bit and give back to the community. And we are pleased to have partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation for enabling this.”

Mr. Anant Arora, Chief Sustainability & Communication Officer, The Akshaya Patra Foundation mentioned, “A healthy meal is not the same luxury or a privilege for many. Moreover, most of us also fail to consider that every morsel of wasted food could potentially aid in someone’s nourishment. At Akshaya Patra, we envision eliminating classroom hunger and countering malnutrition amongst children from underserved communities. We couldn’t have been happier to partner with Asahi Kasei – who shares our vision – to introduce the Wrap Up Hunger with Asahi Kasei initiative. I am also grateful to the Central Government and State Governments for providing us this opportunity to serve children and communities and supporting and encouraging our efforts all along.” 

According to the UN Hunger Report, although the world produces enough food to feed the global population, as many as 811 million people still go hungry every day. Asahi Kasei’s ‘Wrap Up Hunger with Asahi Kasei’ initiative is a definite step towards making a real difference in the lives of disadvantaged and deprived children across the country by helping to provide fresh, nutritious meals to them.

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