San Diego-Based Jensen Meat Company Donates 500,000 Pounds of its New Plant-Based Patties to Feeding San Diego
Product to be distributed by Feeding San Diego and its partners throughout San Diego County to provide food assistance to San Diegans facing hunger
Feeding San Diego has received its largest food donation to date from San Diego-based Jensen Meat Company. The company is donating 500,000 pounds of its new plant-based patties to the local hunger relief organization to be distributed throughout San Diego County by Feeding San Diego and its community partners, which include faith-based organizations, food pantries, and other non-profits. Jensen Meat Company is a leading processor and marketer of high-quality ground beef products that recently expanded into plant-based beef alternatives.
Jensen Meat Company has been a food donor to Feeding San Diego since 2015 and has donated over 40,678 pounds of food to the organization to date. Feeding San Diego works with local food manufacturers like Jensen Meat Company to rescue food that might otherwise end up in a landfill, for business reasons such as surplus or changed orders. For this donation, Jensen Meat Company donated the product as a new production line to share with the community, but most donations are done to cut food waste.
“Plant-based meat alternatives are high in demand right now, and we are pleased to be able to provide this product to those in the community facing hunger,” said Patty O’Connor, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Feeding San Diego. “This product is high in protein and a great vegan option for those we serve. Generous food donors like Jensen Meat Company make our mission of ending hunger through food rescue possible.”
Instead of disposing of food, Feeding San Diego provides an opportunity for local businesses to give back to the community with their food donations. On January 1, 2022, Senate Bill 1383 becomes law and requires food businesses to donate edible food to hunger relief organizations rather than sending it to the landfill.
“We are proud of our longstanding support for Feeding San Diego in its mission to fight hunger,” remarked Abel Olivera, Chief Executive Officer of Jensen Meat. “We’re grateful to everyone who joined our initiative and helped us provide two million individual plant-based patties for people in need this holiday season. We hope that through this first plant-based initiative, we can make an impact in our communities in the fight against hunger.”
Feeding San Diego and its almost 300 community partners serve groups vulnerable to food insecurity, including low-income families, college students, and military families and veterans. The organization has arranged for ongoing deliveries of the plant-based patties to 22 of its partners, including South Bay Food Pantry, San Diego Rescue Mission, and the North County LGBTQ Resource Center. The patties will also be handed out at Feeding San Diego’s Together Tour series of large-scale food distributions throughout San Diego County for most of 2022.
Jensen Meat announced its expansion into plant-based beef alternatives earlier this year, and recently completed a new processing plant to allow the company to increase production of affordable protein sources and work towards the goal of making the global food system sustainable.
