PETALING JAYA: Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd and Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia (YFBM) have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen food redistribution efforts, support communities in need and reduce avoidable food waste.
The agreement formalises and expands a collaboration that began in 2020, through which suitable food and beverage products have been channelled to vulnerable communities across Malaysia.
To date, Nestlé Malaysia has contributed more than RM7 million worth of products through food redistribution and humanitarian relief initiatives carried out with YFBM.
The partnership will see Nestlé Malaysia continue to provide surplus products that are fully suitable for consumption, while YFBM will coordinate their safe and responsible distribution to beneficiaries.
In conjunction with the MoU signing, Nestlé Malaysia employee volunteers and YFBM prepared 800 food and nutrition aid packs for families in remote areas of Tumpat and Jeli, Kelantan, ahead of the upcoming monsoon season.
The packs contain essential products including MILO, EVERYDAY, MAGGI, NESCAFÉ, NESTUM and KOKO KRUNCH cereals.
The initiative forms part of Nestlé Malaysia’s annual Nationwide Flood Aid Relief programme, which aims to support underserved communities during the monsoon season when prolonged rainfall and adverse weather conditions can make it difficult to deliver essential supplies to isolated areas.
Nestlé Malaysia CEO Juan Aranols said the collaboration with YFBM enables the company to support communities in need while ensuring suitable surplus products across its value chain are put to good use.
“Working with Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia enables us to support communities in need while ensuring suitable surplus products across the value chain can be put to good use,” he said in a statement.
He said the new agreement would provide a stronger platform to expand the support, particularly as the monsoon season approaches.
“Acting early is especially important for communities that may become harder to reach later in the year. Through this initiative, we can help families in these isolated communities to be well stocked up with nutritious high quality products to help their resiliency throughout the heavy monsoon season,” he said.
YFBM chairperson of the Board of Trustees Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said consistent and well-organised food assistance was important to ensure support reached communities where it was needed.
“Public-private partnerships such as this allow us to bring together food resources, volunteers and our distribution network to serve communities in need more effectively,” she said.
She added that there was also value in ensuring usable food was not wasted.
The collaboration supports several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
Nestlé Malaysia said redistributing edible, in-date products helps prevent food from going to waste while reducing associated greenhouse gas emissions.
The partnership also includes food redistribution and monsoon relief initiatives that have supported remote island communities and isolated villages during the monsoon period.
The initiative forms part of Nestlé Sayang Komuniti, which encourages Nestlé employees to participate in community and environmental programmes nationwide.
