Hearty meals : reducing hunger and food waste through a food-sharing mobile application

Abstract

One in five low-income households in Singapore face severe food insecurity. Despite a wide range of food support initiatives available, due to the gaps of these existing food-support programmes, many food-insecure individuals are still inadequately outreached. On the other end of the spectrum, studies have found that households in Singapore contributes a hefty amount of food waste each year. Both household food insecurity and household food waste remain a problem in Singapore today.

Hearty Meals aims to develop a food-sharing mobile application that pulls together community efforts to tackle household food insecurity – by tapping into household food surplus as a resource. The objective of this project is three-fold: to provide an additional food source for the underprivileged, to reduce unnecessary household food waste, and to foster social cohesion in Singapore.