Tetra Pak and Foodbank provide long-life milk for people in need

Tetra Pak has entered into an agreement with hunger relief organisation Foodbank to supply long-life milk to people in need as announced at a recent launch event in Sydney.

Foodbank acts as a pantry to the charities and community groups who feed the hungry. Tetra Pak has made a donation to Foodbank, along with Murray Goulburn, a number of other partners and the Australian Government.

Foodbank, the largest food relief organisation in Australia, is a national, non-denominational, not-for-profit organisation which collects surplus and donated food and grocery products from producers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers and distributes them to charities and community groups to disseminate to people in need in the form of meals, grocery hampers and emergency relief packages.

John Webster, CEO of Foodbank Australia, said: “To the 2500 charities we serve in their vital work, we want welfare agencies to be able to rely on us for all the key essentials they need to provide balanced and nutritious meals to people in need. Milk is consistently at the top of their shopping list.”

The long-life milk program was officially launched at Foodbank’s Parramatta Mission in Sydney’s west on 25 February by the Federal Minister for Community Services, the Hon Julie Collins MP. The launch, which included a special lunch, was held for the regular visitors to Parramatta Mission to celebrate the program.

Since 2011, prior to the long-life milk program being established, the Australian Dairy Industry united to provide Foodbank with one million litres of chilled milk annually. The new milk allows milk to be included in emergency food hampers and distributed to charities without the need for refrigeration, which is particularly important in remote and regional areas.

As part of Tetra Pak’s involvement, its employees volunteer at Foodbank’s warehouses on a number of days during the year. This program has already started and it will continue throughout 2013.

The Managing Director of Tetra Pak Oceania, Noel Ayre, said that the partnership with Foodbank makes a lot of sense for his company.

“One can’t learn about Foodbank’s work without wanting to play a part in helping them to achieve their goal of eliminating hunger. Tetra Pak pioneered aseptic packaging in the 1960s making long-life milk possible, and it’s also perfect for Foodbank’s work.

“This arrangement also gives our employees a chance to become involved by volunteering with Foodbank. It’s very motivating for our people to be able to see how the products we sell can benefit others.”