Packaging - Guidelines for Catering Clients

Do we need to provide packaging?

When it comes to cooked food, we ask businesses to put the food in containers before handing it to the volunteers. We recommend avoiding plastic containers and using easily recyclable containers such as aluminium, cardboard or using biodegradable materials. For raw fruit and veg it does not need to be packaged and volunteers will bring their own bags.

Can we use reusable containers that volunteers return?

This is feasible from a food safety and legal standpoint. However, our prior testing experiences revealed several challenges including volunteers being unwilling to collect food in large reusable containers (that they later need to portion) as well as issues with volunteers not returning them. If you wish to explore this approach, we suggest discussing it with your volunteers once a solid relationship and confidence has been built. Volunteers will need to follow the guidelines shared in our FAQs here.

Are there any requirements for portioning the food in the containers?

No, there are no rules to how you decide to portion the food in the containers. However, we recommend portions that can be easily consumed by small families to minimise waste in the homes.