Where Our Food Comes From

In New York City, more than 1.4 million people — the majority of whom are women, children, seniors, the working poor and people with disabilities — rely on emergency food. The Food Bank has developed a group of food acquisition programs that address the size of this need as well as specific considerations from nutrition to ethnic communities.

Donated Food
The Food Bank solicits donations of packaged, perishable and non-perishable food from the food industry, including the Fulton Fish Market and the Hunts Point Cooperative Market and corporate partners including target and A&P grocery stores. Last year, the value of donated food, including produce, was $31.6 million.  

Fresh Produce
Regular donations of fresh produce are provided by the produce industry, including Feeding America, government agencies and the Hunts Point Produce Market — the world's largest wholesale produce market. In addition, the Food Bank is participating in a partnership with the Food Bank Association of New York State, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Cornell University to connect food banks throughout the state with local farmers. The Food Bank is currently procuring produce from an Orange County farm and is actively working to expand our network of local farmers.

For the fifth time in the past six years, the Food Bank received the Mighty Apple Award for the most fresh produce collected from Feeding America for distribution to the network.

Government-Funded Sources
The Food Bank contracts with the city, state and federal government to purchase, warehouse and distribute food to emergency food programs. Our government-funded food sources include the New York City Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), the New York State Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the federal emergency food program.

Wholesale Food Purchasing
Based on feedback from our network of more than 1,000 community-based member programs, our wholesale purchasing is designed to supplement donated and government products and provide the food and supplies most in demand throughout our city's low-income neighborhoods.