The seminar highlighted the importance of controls in the food chain, also for the purpose of recovering surpluses for the poor

6 May 2016 - "Treat food as a gift and not just as an object and a consumer good" is the invitation that Marco Lucchini, director of Banco Alimentare Onlus, addressed to students of Food Science and Human Nutrition within of a seminar held at UCBM. Its title, "Against food waste", is also the fundamental mission of Banco Alimentare, an association that has been working for the recovery and redistribution of food in Italy since 1989.

It is estimated that in our country 15% of daily food production goes to waste. An emergency on which UCBM wanted to draw the attention of students, future professionals in collective catering and in the field of food education. Lucchini explained to them how it is essential "to continue the life of this commodity that is no longer marketable, but perfectly edible".

FThe flagship of Banco Alimentare's activity and of Italian redistribution is Siticibo, cooked and fresh food recovery program. Thanks to the project, active since 2003, the surpluses of large-scale retail trade and collective catering are donated to a network of 5800 charitable organizations operating in the vast field of soup kitchens. It was the Law of the Good Samaritan, which came into force on 16 July 2003, which allowed the activation of this offer, equating the "final consumer" to the non-profit organization which distributes free of charge to the needy and thus relieving the latter from the bureaucratic obligations which, fact, complicate assistance to the poor. It is the donor organizations, already subjected to food safety checks and compliance with hygiene standards, that guarantee the quality of cooked and fresh foods.

It has also been a member of Siticibo for a few months UCBM, donating surpluses from university restaurants to the non-profit association "Life is a gift" in Rome, which distributes meals to hundreds of homeless people every day.