The Victoria Food Relief Sector: Response to the Victorian Inquiry into Food Security

Together, OzHarvest, SecondBite | FareShare, and the Regional Food Security Alliance (RFSA) referred to collectively in this document as the ‘Victorian food relief sector’, provide over 21.5 million meals for food relief every year. In 2024, SecondBite | FareShare Victoria provided the equivalent of 10.49 million meals, OzHarvest Victoria 4.75 million meals, and the RFSA 6.28 million meals.  The sector would like to thank members of the committee for their time during the inquiry, and for their contribution towards the publication of the report. We congratulate them on this vital step forward in addressing the levels of food insecurity in Victoria and would like to provide a joint response on what we feel are the key recommendations.

Collectively, our organisations provide everyday access to food for an increasing number of Victorians. The sector also works with governments, communities, councils and organisations to prepare for disasters and to enable community resilience and recovery and are working towards food equity.  The Victorian food relief sector is deeply committed to cross-sector collaboration, and in finding innovative solutions to address the food needs of the states most vulnerable.  As part of this commitment, the sector will be undertaking an initiative in Regional Victoria, with funding from DFFH, to address the significantly higher levels of food insecurity and hardship faced by regional Victorians, including those who identify as First Nations.  Through this project, the sector will pool resources and expertise to re-distribute the states surplus nutritious food, from the urban retail and the regional primary production and manufacturing sectors, more fairly, ensuring that Victorians facing food insecurity can access their fair share.

The Victorian Inquiry into Food Security

The Inquiry into Food Security committee found 33 key findings and produced 25 recommendations, identifying:

  • Two major drivers of food insecurity for Victorians: the rising cost of food, and broader cost-of-living pressures.
  • Food insecurity has a profound impact on the physical and mental health of Victorians, exacerbating chronic health risks and conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as stress, anxiety and depression.
  • Addressing Food Security requires short-term solutions and a long-term food security strategy for Victoria including improving access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food, access to food literacy, and appropriate funding and infrastructure.

For the sector and Victorian government to better address the growing food insecurity crisis, commitments must be made by all sides of politics to implement the coordination and strategic planning necessary.

Food Relief Sector Endorsed Recommendations

The Victoria food relief sector recognise all recommendations will positively address Victoria’s Food Insecurity crisis however, there are three recommendations that need to be priority actions:

1. That the Victorian Government develop a Victorian Food Security Strategy focused on:

 • transitioning the food security response from relief to resilience

•  supporting a place based, community led response to food security

• establishing a food relief sector which can be scaled to deal with sudden shocks and crises.

The development of a food relief strategy would see the State Government work hand-in hand with the food relief sector to define cross-sector solutions and enable community-led response to address immediate hunger and help tackle the causes of food insecurity. An investment plan provides an opportunity to engage key stakeholders in identifying strategies to enhance efficiency and resilience, resulting in a substantial return on investment by improving community support and advancing the transition to a more equitable food system within our state.

2. That the Victorian Government appoint a Minister for Food and establish a Victorian Food Security Committee, to support the development of a Victorian Food Security Strategy. The first action of the Minister and Committee would be to define resilience.

    Announcing a dedicated Minister for Food would be an Australian first – highlighting Victoria’s commitment to both alleviating the impacts of food insecurity as well as helping to ensure the food system can eliminate as much food waste as possible. A dedicated Minister would also be in line with a recommendation from the Federal House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture Report “Food Story: Feeding the Nation and Beyond”. The Victorian Minister for Food would have state-based oversight, of strategic planning and ensure appropriate focus on the growing challenges faced by our food systems in Victoria, effectively coordinating the government responses and measuring impact.

    3. That the Victorian Government re‑establish and resource the Victorian Food Relief Taskforce with an expanded membership to include First Nations people, persons with lived experience of food insecurity and frontline agencies.

    Following on from the recommendations of the Federal inquiry, the establishment of a taskforce would assist in developing collaborative solutions across Victoria, better supporting communities to address immediate food insecurity and work towards food equity, including in response to natural disasters.

    A collaborative and permanent taskforce that includes the food relief sector, relevant members of the Government, researchers, producers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and community would be able to identify trends and solutions, working together to make sure that all Victorians have access to safe, nutritious, sufficient and culturally appropriate food all year round.



    How current sector programs are supporting the Committee’s Recommendations

    1. OZHARVEST
    NEST Program

    A 6-week food and nutrition literacy program has been designed specifically for vulnerable community groups who experience exclusion from mainstream health, education and community services, including CALD populations, those with low English literacy skills and those experiencing financial and/or social disadvantage. With a focus on improving food literacy and dietary habits, this program equips participants with essential nutrition knowledge, cooking skills, and behaviour change tools directly aligned with evidence-based public health guidelines including the Australian Dietary Guidelines.  OzHarvest has embedded a monitoring and evaluation plan into the NEST Program using validated research methods to measure its impact on dietary behaviours, nutrition knowledge and food security status.
    FEAST Program

    FEAST (Food Education and Sustainability Training) is a free 10-week curriculum-aligned education program for primary and high schools, which explores positive food choices, easy classroom cooking, the issue of food waste and its environmental impact. The FEAST program has worked with Aboriginal owned educational provider Dream Big Education to align our program with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Cross Curriculum Outcomes and provide a guide to teachers on how they can implement placed based learning through engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members. 

    2. SECONDBITE| FARESHARE

    Meals for the Mob

    Meals for the Mob was created to address both the disproportionately higher incidence of food insecurity and subsequent higher incidences of long-term health impacts, in particular diet-sensitive chronic diseases, in First Nations communities, that is driven by chronic food insecurity.  Meals for the Mob starts with endorsement from local leaders, elders and champions and consultation from local land councils and tribes to seek permission to deliver food and partner with community services. Since the successful pilot in 2022, FareShare has delivered more than 200,000 meals for the mob in Queensland.  SecondBite| FareShare will commence the program in Victoria in 2025.

    Medically Tailored Meals

    Traditional food relief does not often take the health condition of a recipient into account when providing support, nor does it leverage the interest and resources that healthcare could bring to the food relief sector to maximise the potential of nutritious food for health and wellbeing. Emerging evidence from the USA suggests that Medically Tailored Meals designed for those experiencing social-economic hardship improves health and wellbeing, reduces nutrition insecurity and subsequently, inequality surrounding access to nutritious food.  FareShare has partnered with The George Institute for Global Health and will commence Australia’s first Medically Tailored meal pilot in March 2025, to demonstrate the benefit such program can bring to people who are living with food insecurity and type II diabetes in Melbourne.

    Shelf-Stable Meals A considerable challenge for the food relief sector is the provision of food for regional and remote areas, areas that are cut-off due to seasonal weather events, responding to disasters and supporting communities with disaster preparedness and resilience.  To tackle these challenges, FareShare is currently developing an innovative meal range, using the latest freeze-dry and thermal- processing technologies, to transform meals so that they do not require refrigeration and have a greatly extended shelf life.  FareShare is currently working on a project with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and would welcome support to conduct trials in Victoria.

    3. REGIONAL FOOD SECURITY ALLIANCE

    Partnerships for resilient regional and rural communities are the focus of the Regional Food Security Alliance (RFSA) and its six Regional Foodshares in Wodonga, Shepparton, Bendigo, Mildura, Warrnambool and Geelong. Together these regional hubs cover 38 LGAs. In this unique Australian program, community ownership with strong local in-kind and financial support make the programs effective and responsive to local need. As well as sourcing and providing food to those in need, our Regional Foodshares improve access, equity and resilience for regional communities through:  

    Community Markets
    Regional Social Supermarkets and other Community Markets provide dignity and choice of free or low-cost food for people experiencing hardship. RFSA members are now operating 7 Community Markets. The RFSA will extend support to smaller charitable organisations running Community Markets during 2025.   Increasing Food Skills Over 1,100 participants attended cooking and food growing classes run by RFSA regional Foodshares last year. These programs are targeted to local needs e.g. young parents at TAFE and VCAL cooking for a children’s party, English as an additional language and year 10 students cooking a culturally significant meal together, primary school children growing and harvesting vegetables. The provision of healthy food also enabled 140 schools to run their own cooking and food security programs for their families.  

    Community Resilience
    Over 1,000 active volunteers supported food security through our regional Foodshares in 2024. Our volunteer numbers continue to grow, strengthening regional and rural community resilience in Victoria and southern NSW.

    The food relief sector is committed to working with each other, the government of the day, relevant stakeholders and most importantly the community to address food insecurity and help move Victoria towards food equity and food security. We extend an invite out to you for a site of any of our warehouses and kitchens, so we can show you firsthand how we are tackling food insecurity in the state and for an open discussion about a coordinated, timely and sustainable response to food insecurity for Victoria.

    With Gratitude,

    Christine Crowley Melbourne City Manager OzHarvest christine.crowley@ozharvest.org

    Daniel Moorfield Chief Executive Officer SecondBite І Fareshare daniel.moorfield@secondbite.org

    Cathie Steele Board Chair Regional Food Security Alliance cathiesteele@me.com