What is Food Recovery? 

  • Food Recovery is the rescue of edible food from food producers by a nonprofit food distribution organization

  • Nonprofits are able to distribute recovered food that would otherwise end up in the waste stream

  • Edible food can be rescued from a variety of sources:

    • Large Grocery stores (Tier 1)

    • Large restaurants, dining halls, or event spaces (Tier 2)

    • Smaller food producers, although not required by law to donate, can also participate (Tier 3)

    • Fruits and vegetables are often rescued directly from farms, farmers markets, and backyard growers

  • Recovered food is redistributed to households through non-profit Food Recovery Organizations such as food pantries, meal programs, and community groups.

What is a Community Food Recovery Hub?

  • A community food recovery hub is a program established to remove obstacles to the expansion of food recovery in a number of ways

    • Coordination of edible food collection from food producers - grocery stores, markets, restaurants, schools, farms, and ranches

    • Expansion of food storage capacity for perishable, temperature sensitive items

    • Development of new opportunities for the distribution of recovered food by non-profits and community support organizations

How can our food pantry participate?

  • Adelante Comunidad Conejo has been selected by the City of Thousand Oaks to use CalRecycle grant funds to expand food recovery citywide.

    • Organizations that are currently recovering or distributing food through Food Share of Ventura County were invited to a food recovery capacity meeting at Adelante’s new facility.

    • The first meeting was scheduled for Thursday, 4/17 at 5:30pm. We discussed obstacles organizations face to increasing food recovery from Tier 1 and Tier 2 food producers and ways that the CalRecycle funds can be used to address those challenges.

    • Take the food recovery survey at https://www.adelanteconejo.org/food-recovery-survey to help us identify your food recovery needs.

    • Food distribution organizations not currently participating in food recovery are also welcome to attend. Let us know you are interested by email.

    • Organizations interested in diverting food for animal feed or composting should contact us by email at hub@adelanteconejo.org

How can restaurants and other  

food producers participate?       

  • Adelante Comunidad Conejo has been selected by the City of Thousand Oaks to use CalRecycle funds for the expansion of food recovery from Tier 2 food producers - restaurants, banquet halls, and dining facilities.

    • Food Producers identified by the City of Thousands Oaks as subject to Tier 2 regulations will be contacted as part of the process.

    • Smaller food producers, not subject to SB 1383, will be added as interest dictates.

    • Contact us directly at hub@adelanteconejo.org to learn more or be added to our contact list.