About BPNN's Food Recovery Program
We collect perishable and non-perishable foods that were prepared for the public but never served. Through our commercial grade Prairie Kitchen, we have built the infrastructure necessary to provide local businesses with an efficient, safe, and reliable system to donate quality food. Today, we are looking to grow our operation to include even more businesses and volunteers to ensure we recover as much food as possible and distribute it to the greatest number of people. Call to schedule public tours of our new cooler area that services the Kitchen to Table food recovery network. Kitchen to Table provides prepared food to pantries throughout southern Wisconsin in partnership with the Community Action Coalition, Second Harvest, Festival Foods, Placon, Feeding Wisconsin, Dane County, Epic, Promega, Exact Science, UW Health, CUNA Mutual Group, and The Compass Group.
Call Prairie Kitchen Director, Marcia Kasieta, at 608-848-2499 or email her for more information.
Advantages of Donating
Call Prairie Kitchen Director, Marcia Kasieta, at 608-848-2499 or email her for more information.
Advantages of Donating
- Reduce your company’s disposal costs
- Receive tax deductions for the value of the food donated*
- Increase your company’s visibility and reputation
- Improve company culture by helping others
- Cut your company’s waste
- And, of course, help reduce hunger throughout our community
There are potential tax benefits for companies that donate food. Harvard University's Food Law and Policy Clinic has published a guide to help your tax preparer assess your eligibility.
| food-donation-fed-tax-guide-for-pub-2.pdf |
Where Does Recovered Food Go?
Recovered food helps feed members of our community who are food insecure. Much of the recovered food is distributed through our food pantry or shared with other food pantries, senior centers, and teams helping feed Madison's homeless populations. We also use some of the recovered food to provide a free community meal on Saturdays when school lunches and senior meal programs are not available. Because we have an animal feed license, food items that we cannot distribute for human consumption (but are still safe to consume) are donated to local farmers and animal shelters. What's left goes to a local composter.
What Are the Regulations for Handling Food?
Corporate donors are protected from liability under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (PDF). Under this Act, as long as the donor has not acted with negligence or intentional misconduct, the company is not liable for damage incurred as the result of illness. Learn more from Food Recovery – a legal guide. Each donor must follow strict food-handling standards to ensure the food we distribute is safe and of the best possible quality. Learn more about Food Safety Basics (PDF).
Regulations include:
Recovered food helps feed members of our community who are food insecure. Much of the recovered food is distributed through our food pantry or shared with other food pantries, senior centers, and teams helping feed Madison's homeless populations. We also use some of the recovered food to provide a free community meal on Saturdays when school lunches and senior meal programs are not available. Because we have an animal feed license, food items that we cannot distribute for human consumption (but are still safe to consume) are donated to local farmers and animal shelters. What's left goes to a local composter.
What Are the Regulations for Handling Food?
Corporate donors are protected from liability under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (PDF). Under this Act, as long as the donor has not acted with negligence or intentional misconduct, the company is not liable for damage incurred as the result of illness. Learn more from Food Recovery – a legal guide. Each donor must follow strict food-handling standards to ensure the food we distribute is safe and of the best possible quality. Learn more about Food Safety Basics (PDF).
Regulations include:
- Avoiding cross-contamination
- Minimizing hand contact
- Properly labeling and dating items
- Food items may not be thawed and then refrozen
- For safe and rapid cooling, food should be packaged into shallow containers and transferred directly to a refrigerator or freezer
- Maintaining appropriate temperatures for food storage