85 million meals have been created by Australian family-owned agribusinesses, Manildra Group and MSM Milling in partnership with food producers Simplot and Rinoldi, and leading food relief organisation, Foodbank Australia.
In 2009, the donations expanded to include donated oil and sugar for the complementary Collaborative Supply Pasta Sauce Program with Foodbank and Simplot.
This partnership dates back to 2004 when the Australian businesses started donating flour to Foodbank’s vital Collaborative Supply Pasta Program with Rinoldi.
Manildra Group sources wheat from local farmers and handles the milling of the flour that is donated to Rinoldi, one of Australia’s longest established food manufacturers, which produces pasta specifically for Foodbank. MSM Milling’s auzure canola oil and sugar from Sunshine Sugar are donated to Simplot to produce Leggo’s Napoletana Pasta Sauce.
Together the finished product is distributed via the Foodbank network of front-line charities and dished up to help people across Australia.
Manildra Flour Mill Manager John Brunner, says each year Manildra Group’s flour donation delivers five million serves of pasta to Australians experiencing all types of hardships.
“Australians who were struggling to get enough food before COVID-19 are now going hungry more often, with 43 per cent going a day a week without eating.
“As an Australian-owned family business we’re proud to step up and donate 350 tonnes of locally milled flour each year and 12 tonnes of sugar to help vulnerable Australians in need.
“Our partnership with Foodbank is now in its 16th year, and it’s heart-warming to be part of a program,” said Mr Brunner.
MSM Milling’s expeller pressed, non-GM canola oil is a vital ingredient in the 250-thousand jars of Leggo’s Napoletana pasta sauce produced for the partnership each year, delivering almost the million serves of sauce.
Director Bob Mac Smith says the company is honoured to play an essential part in a program that helps alleviate food insecurity in local communities.
“Every year for the last 12 years MSM Milling has proudly donated thousands of litres of canola oil to this valuable program to ensure such a versatile pantry staple is made available to those who most need it.
“We’re a family business and the team is proud and humbled to donate oil to the program and see the difference it makes to everyday Australians,” he said.
“This unique partnership highlights what can be achieved when suppliers and food manufacturers come together to collectively benefit Australian communities, from farmers, local businesses and our most vulnerable so it’s extremely humbling to be involved in this,” said Mr Mac Smith.
Foodbank is a not-for-profit food relief organisation that partners right across the Australian food and grocery sector to supply front-line charities nationally with provisions to address hunger in the community.
Foodbank National Program Manager — Agriculture, Jacqui Payne said, “We are extremely grateful for Manildra Group and MSM Milling’s dedication to our cause and ongoing involvement in our vital programs. Our Collaborative Supply Programs are a world-leading and globally unique model for food relief, and we are delighted to have proud Australian businesses like Manildra Group and MSM Milling playing such major roles.
“Put simply, if we did not receive this support, families and individuals across Australia would be going without,” she said.
