This project seeks to investigate the potential of Gleaning surplus apples from commercial farms and redistributing them to charity and community groups. It will also develop the business case for the production of FoodCloud Apple Juice from apples that would have normally been discarded. It will simultaneously address two important societal issues: food poverty and food waste and aims to improve and increase the nutritional value of food accessible to our most vulnerable community members.

The project will be led by FoodCloud and utilise the FoodCloud corporate volunteer network and an organisation called Falling Fruit, which works to harvest surplus fruits from gardens and orchards in Dublin and around the country, the research would be supported by CircBio at Munster Technological University who have completed EPA-funded research in this area through the Efficient Food Project.

The trial phase will use the data from the research phase to select a group of growers that would have suitable produce to redistribute.

FoodCloud will work with growers and volunteers to collect surplus apples and work with The Apple Farm, in Tipperary to develop Cloudy Apple Juice. The juice will be marketed and distributed through FoodCloud’s retail partners and to our charity partners.