“Feeding a growing global population demands of industry sustainability and innovation. And that is what we are proposing to do and debate,” Gilberto Tomazoni, Global CEO of JBS explains.

World Food Day was created in 1981 by the FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and since then it has inspired millions of people and companies to think hard about this issue. In 2020, it is highlighting the actions needed for resuming the global target of Zero Hunger, one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN.

Donations

This year, JBS has already handed over more than 400 tons of protein and over one million hygiene and cleaning items to hundreds of entities, hospitals and communities in Brazil. Added to this are 556,000 food baskets that have benefited needy families in different parts of the country. Both actions have been coordinated by the Company’s social responsibility program, “Fazer o Bem Faz Bem – Alimentando o mundo com solidariedade” (Good Deeds Are Good – Feeding the world with solidarity).

“The actions scheduled for World Food Day are therefore an extension of the social commitment of the company which is tirelessly working to bring quality food to an increasingly larger number of people,” Tomazoni stressed.

JBS, as a global company, also engages in social initiatives in other countries such as the United States, Australia, Britain and Vietnam.

One of the institutions that will receive support from JBS is the Programa Mães da Favela (the Mothers in Favelas Program), a project by the Central Única das Favelas (CUFA), the umbrella entity for Brazilian favelas, whose objective is to alleviate the impacts of social and economic isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to millions of single mothers living in favelas throughout Brazil. The program distributes both physical food baskets and digital food cards in the more than 5,000 favelas where the CUFA operates.

Many of the “Mothers in Favelas” who are also cooks have received training in food production and will now produce meals and take to the streets to donate these to those most in need. Celso Athayde, founder of CUFA, is a member of the social committee of Good Deeds Are Good, and one of the brains behind the JBS World Food Day action.

Another entity that will participate in the donations is the Mãos de Maria (Hands of Mary) Project located in the Paraisópolis neighborhood on the south side of São Paulo city, which consists of a group of women from the community who prepare meals for daily distribution to the residents of the favela.

The Good Deeds Are Good Program has already donated 55 kitchen kits consisting of refrigerators, cookers, pots and pans sets, gas cylinders and five tons of protein. The 55 women chosen will take part in an entrepreneurship training program sponsored by the program and created by the Pra>Frente (Onwards) movement, an initiative of the Fundação Dom Cabral university which, hand-in-hand with companies, social enterprises and the government, is driving the economic development social welfare of persons in situations of vulnerability.

Now, during the Food Day action the institutions will receive vegetables, proteins, rice and beans to prepare meals for the residents of these communities, which will be distributed beginning on Friday (16).

Debate with specialists

Also, on October 16, Tomazoni and guests debated issues involving, nutrition, food and conscientious consumption. The initiative is supported by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and a media partnership with the British newspaper, Financial Times.

The guests include:

• Gilberto Tomazoni - Global CEO of JBS
• Peer Ederer, scientist and director of the Global Food and Agribusiness Network
• Lesley Mitchell, associate director for sustainable nutrition of the Forum for The Future
• Cesar Campos, of FGV Europe.

The debate was opened by John Moncure, director of the Financial Times for Latin America and the Caribbean, with Bryan Harris, editor-in-chief of the Financial Times in São Paulo as moderator.