Food rescue charity KiwiHarvest has marked the milestone of putting 10 million meals on the plates of hungry Kiwis with the official opening its new national headquarters in Auckland.

KiwiHarvest works with food businesses including supermarkets, wholesalers and producers to rescue up to 140,000 kilograms of surplus food each month – the equivalent weight of 175 polar bears – and divert it from landfill to more than 220 charities and social service agencies who help feed Kiwis in hardship.

In February, it nudged past the 10 million meal mark.

KiwiHarvest founder Deborah Manning says the charity’s move to new, bigger and better premises in East Tamaki means it can significantly boost the quantities of food it collects and hands back to vulnerable communities.

“Every Kiwi deserves access to fresh food and thanks to the support of our founding supporter Goodman Foundation and fantastic family of other sponsors, we’ve been able to grow and expand our operations and presence in Auckland significantly.

“This means we can continue with our long-term plan of rescuing tonnes of good food being wasted every day and putting it to better use nourishing our communities.”

100% of food rescued by Kiwi Harvest is fit for consumption but cannot be sold, whether due to oversupply, damaged packaging, cancelled orders, mislabelling or because it is nearing its best before date.

Once collected, it is distributed free of charge via KiwiHarvest’s fleet of refrigerated vans to community groups and social service agencies and shared with people in need.

KiwiHarvest launched in Dunedin in 2012 and has hubs in Queenstown, Hawkes Bay as well as Auckland’s North Shore.

An event to celebrate the official opening of its new headquarters in East Tamaki and mark the 10 million meals milestone will be take place on Thursday, 20 February, 4-6pm at KiwiHarvest HQ, Unit G/70 Business Parade South, Highbrook, Auckland, 2013.

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