Latest news with #ZeroHunger
Iraq Business
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Iraq Business
EU-Funded Gene Bank Launched in Kurdistan
By John Lee. In a landmark move to protect Iraq's agricultural legacy and strengthen its food security, the foundation stone has been laid for the country's first-ever Gene/Seed Bank, located in Hawari Shar Park, Sulaymaniyah. The facility is being funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in cooperation with Iraq's Federal and Regional Governments, under the " Restoration and Strengthening the Resilience of Agri-Food Systems in Iraq " project. The inauguration was held under the auspices of H.E. Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and attended by Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Begard Talabani, Governor of Sulaymaniyah Dr. Haval Abubakir, Mayor of Sulaymaniyah Ms. Leyla Omar Ali, FAO Representative Salah El Hajj Hassan, and other senior officials from academia and agriculture. Mr. Qubad Talabani described the gene bank as " an investment for the future; it protects our past and secures our future. " With over 3,500 plant species native to Iraq, the gene bank will conserve rare and wild varieties of grains, vegetables, and indigenous crops. It will support the development of climate-resilient agriculture by preserving traits such as drought tolerance. Minister Begard Talabani called the initiative a "strategic milestone" that will aid scientific research and protect Iraq's plant diversity for generations to come. FAO's Salah El Hajj Hassan thanked the EU for its funding and reiterated the project's alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals-particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). He described the gene bank as a centre for innovation and resilience. The facility will feature storage vaults, laboratories, seed documentation, and conservation units, with planned future expansions including a cryobank, tissue culture laboratory, and field gene bank. (Source: FAO Iraq)
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Newsweek Names Kroger One of America's Most Trustworthy Companies
Retailer recognized for outstanding associate, customer and investor trust scores CINCINNATI, June 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), America's grocer, today announced it has been recognized by Newsweek as one of "America's Most Trustworthy Companies" for 2025. "We work to earn trust every day by delivering great quality food at low prices, offering dependable employment with opportunities for fulfilling careers, caring for our communities and rewarding shareholders," said Ron Sargent, Kroger's Chairman and CEO. Companies earn this distinction from three main public pillars of trust – associate trust, customer trust and investor trust. The ranking reflects Kroger's continued efforts to provide customers with fresh, affordable food, employees with a workplace that respects and values every associate, and neighbors with a commitment to create communities free from hunger and food waste through Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan. Since launching Zero Hunger | Zero Waste in 2017, the retailer has directed more than 3.9 billion meals to feed hungry families in local communities. To learn more about Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, visit here. The Kroger Co. has been named a 2024 top place to work by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN™, was honored by Handshake for excellence in early career hiring, named a best workplace for diverse professionals by Mogul, earned recognition from Newsweek as One of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity and ranked among Computerworld's Top 100 best places to work in IT. Visit to learn more about pursuing a career in roles that enhance the customer experience at Kroger. About Kroger At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit™. We are, across our family of companies more than 400,000 associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through an eCommerce experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Kroger Co.
Euronews
12-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Spanish innovators tackle food waste and safety with smart labels
Food waste is a critical global problem, costing billions annually and contributing significantly to environmental damage. In the European Union alone, over 59 million tonnes of food are discarded every year – a staggering 132 kilograms per person – while millions suffer from foodborne illnesses. Addressing these challenges, three young Spanish entrepreneurs, Pilar Granado, Pablo Sosa Domínguez, and Luis Chimeno, have developed smart biodegradable labels that detect bacterial growth on food and signal freshness in real time. This breakthrough has earned them a place among the top 10 selected innovators in the Young Inventors Prize 2025. Their company, Oscillum, embeds intelligent biosensors into a biodegradable polymer matrix that reacts to bacterial compounds released as food spoils, triggering a visible colour change. 'We place the biosensor in contact with the food, and with a simple colour change it indicates whether it is safe to eat or should be thrown away,' Granado explains. This innovation gives consumers and retailers accurate, real-time information about food safety, unlike traditional expiry dates or time-temperature indicators that can be unreliable. By directly detecting bacterial activity, Oscillum's labels help reduce unnecessary food waste and lower the risk of food poisoning. The idea originated from a memorable experience in their university days at Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche. Chimeno recalls: 'The idea started because Pablo had a piece of meat in the fridge that had a very strange look and smell. He decided to eat it against our advice. Nothing happened, and that's when the spark came. We thought: how many people would have thrown this away?' This moment inspired the team to design a solution that provides clear, easy-to-understand information about the product's freshness, helping consumers make safer decisions. Oscillum's smart labels work across a variety of foods, from fresh produce to meat and fish, and even packaged goods. The labels also indicate ripeness on fruits and vegetables, preventing premature disposal of perfectly edible products. For retailers, the technology offers a way to optimize stock management and cut losses, while consumers gain confidence in the food they buy. Since officially launching in 2019, Oscillum has grown through partnerships, accelerator programmes, and funding from innovation centres. The company is now expanding into active packaging solutions that interact with food to extend shelf life. Early intellectual property protection has been crucial to securing their place in the competitive food-tech sector. Their work advances several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Responsible Consumption, and Climate Action. 'We understand sustainability as a balance between environmental, economic and social factors,' says Sosa Domínguez, underlining the trio's holistic approach. Chimeno highlights the particular potential benefits for vulnerable communities, explaining that the 'technology can reduce food waste and its environmental impact while also preventing food poisoning, especially in regions with limited food safety infrastructure.' Oscillum's smart labels offer a practical, scalable response to the global challenge of food waste and safety – offering a tool that benefits both consumers and the planet. 'If you know a young person who you think is taking opioids, you need to take action'. That's the key message Denmark wants parents to keep in mind as part of its new campaign to get them to talk with their teenage children about the risk of opioids, a small but growing public health threat in the Nordic country. The Danish health authority and the city of Copenhagen launched the campaign this week after discovering in a February survey that 47 per cent of parents do not know enough about opioids to talk to their children about them. The campaign offers advice from teenagers and experts on how to talk to young people about opioids, which include some types of prescription painkillers as well as heroin and fentanyl, an ultra-potent synthetic opioid. It says parents should broach the subject in a casual way, set clear expectations, and avoid becoming preachy or upset. 'With the new campaign, we will better equip parents and other adults around young people to talk about opioids – and show them how important a role they play for young people,' Jonas Egebart, director of the Danish health authority, said in a statement. Parental outreach is one plank of a government plan announced last year to prevent young people from abusing opioids, which has been a growing public health problem in Denmark in recent years. While some people take opioids legally – for example, cancer patients who are prescribed painkillers – they can quickly lead to addiction, which in turn can have deadly consequences. From 2018 to 2023, the number of Danes aged 25 or younger who were hospitalised because of an opioid overdose rose from 142 to 239 – a 68 per cent increase. In 2023, the country reported 116 opioid-related deaths, mostly tied to methadone and heroin, government data shows. Denmark's new approach to opioids includes a range of measures. People caught in possession of or selling the drugs were previously slapped with a fine, but under the government plan they could be sent to jail. The country is also boosting its drug surveillance and will take steps to improve treatment options for people struggling with addiction.
Hindustan Times
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Why private sector involvement is crucial for achieving SDG 2 & SDG 4
After having spent over a decade working to bridge the gap between hunger and education, one thing has become clear--while public policy lays the foundation, sustainable change is only possible when society, comprising corporates, non-profits and citizens embrace collective ownership of development agendas. The SDGs provide a comprehensive framework to plan, measure and monitor progress towards creating a sustainable world. India has made considerable progress towards achieving two critical UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 2 - Zero Hunger and SDG 4 - Quality Education, with government programmes like PM POSHAN and Samagra Shiksha laying a strong foundation. However, in a country as vast and diverse as ours, the scale and complexity of challenges demand more than government support; they call for a united, multi-sectoral response. Over the years, it has become quite evident that a well-nourished child is far more likely to attend school, stay focused in class and achieve better learning outcomes. Nutrition is not just a health metric, it is the cornerstone of educational equity. When we feed a child, we don't just address hunger; we enable their right to learn, grow and thrive. Thus, any conversation about child nutrition and education must move beyond government responsibility. Reimagining schools not just as centres of learning but as effective platforms for child welfare can help unlock the full potential of school-based nutrition and create space for deeper multisector collaboration, particularly in advancing SDG 2 and SDG 4. While the government continues to play a pivotal role in supporting the mid-day meal programme, there is considerable scope to engage private players in complementary interventions, such as school breakfast programmes. A well-designed breakfast initiative can address early morning hunger, improve attendance, sharpen concentration and significantly enhance learning outcomes, thereby amplifying the overall impact of school feeding efforts. True transformation lies in multi-sectoral collaboration, where the private sector takes a larger role, going beyond being just a donor and becoming a co-creator of solutions. Even the most well-conceived welfare programmes can benefit from support going beyond government funding as far as scale, innovation and sustainability are concerned. We have witnessed first-hand how corporate partnerships, based on shared values and long-term commitment to a cause, can enhance programme efficiency, scalability and resilience. For the private sector, it is an opportunity to contribute; not merely as a funder, but as a strategic partner in the crucial task of nation-building. The evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India, especially post the Companies Act 2013, has opened doors to deeper engagement. According to a Give Grants report, annual CSR spending has grown three times over the last decade. To maximise the impact of this spending, there is a need to go beyond compliance and foster strategic alignment with global and national development goals. A successful collaboration pairs corporate (innovation) with non-profit (implementation) and government (scale). While governments set the agenda, non-profits can bring community insight and corporations can contribute resources and expertise, thus helping maximise the impact of welfare programmes. True progress requires sustained impact over the course of time, and to ensure sustained impact, we can resort to local contextualisation and data-driven accountability. Measurable indicators, such as school attendance and learning outcomes, can help ensure optimal utilisation and continuous improvement of resources. Furthermore, fostering ecosystems of shared responsibility, such as co-funding models, joint impact assessments and platforms for learning exchange, do not just multiply impact but also build resilience necessary to mitigate disruptions caused due to unforeseen situations such as a natural disaster or as we witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a nation, we have both the ambition and infrastructure to achieve the UN SDGs. Our progress so far is a testament to the strength of our development policies. However, to unlock the full potential of these initiatives and to reach every child who needs support, we must embrace the idea of collective responsibility. Together, we can ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn, grow and contribute to a brighter, more equitable India. In the end, feeding a child and educating a child are not just acts of service—they are investments in our shared future. This article is authored by Dhananjay Ganjoo, chief resource mobilisation and marketing officer, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Axios Harris Poll Names Kroger One of America's Most Visible and Trusted Companies
CINCINNATI, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today announced its inclusion among the 2025 Axios Harris Poll 100, an annual ranking of the reputations of the most visible companies in the U.S. "As America's grocer, we understand our responsibility to provide fresh, affordable food so families can make the meals they love," said Ron Sargent, Chairman and CEO of Kroger. "Every day, our teams are focused on the customer, keeping prices low and creating meaningful careers. We appreciate Harris recognizing Kroger's commitment to our customers and associates." The Axios Harris Poll is a trusted ranking of the reputations of companies most on the minds of Americans, with a framework used by Harris since 1999. Through the survey, respondents evaluate reputations against key dimensions such as ethics, trust, vision and products and services. Kroger has regularly received high marks on the survey, consistently ranking among America's most visible and trusted companies. Kroger is committed to supporting healthy, thriving communities through its signature Zero Hunger | Zero Waste impact plan. Since launching its impact plan in 2017, the retailer has provided $1.5 billion to support hunger relief, which includes 815 million pounds of surplus fresh food rescued, totaling more than 3.9 billion meals directed to communities. This year, the retailer has organized Kroger Community Days, where volunteers and communities gather to pack a million meals with U.S. Hunger. With events taking place across the country, Kroger plans on packing more than three million meals this year with associates and community volunteers. To learn more about Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste progress visit here. "Kroger's continued inclusion in the Axios Harris Poll 100 underscores the company's unwavering commitment to building communities free from hunger and waste," said Keith Dailey, Kroger's group vice president of corporate affairs. "With the support of our dedicated associates, community members and customers, we are able to will provide nourishing meals for families to improve food security and health across the U.S. and work toward a future where no one has to go to bed hungry." The Kroger Co., recognized for its industry-leading benefits, culture and commitment to creating a workplace that respects and values every community, has been named a top place to work by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN™, was honored by Handshake for excellence in early career hiring, named a best workplace for diverse professionals by Mogul, earned recognition from Newsweek as One of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity and ranked among Computerworld's Top 100 best places to work in IT. About Kroger At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit™. We are, across our family of companies more than 400,000 associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through an e-commerce experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Kroger Co.
