| Alpro, Solae, Vitasoy, WhiteWave Provide Support for Haiti |
| Monday, 08 February 2010 17:45 | |||
 Port au Prince, Haiti, February 2010 – In an effort to make a multinational promotion to facilitate soyfoods donations for Haiti, a number of major companies have already provided commitments. These include: Alpro NV, Europe’s leading soyfood company, Solae LLC, a world leader in soy-based ingredients, Vitasoy USA Inc., a pioneer of soymilk in America, and WhiteWave Foods, the producer of “Silk”, one of the leading US soymilk brands.
Alpro and Solae have committed financial support for the effort, while considering further options, and Vitasoy and WhiteWave are donating aseptic beverages. These first soyfood donations are being made via “Feed the Children”, a US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that also has a branch in Canada. Their mission is to provide food to people in need in many countries. They also have the capability to collect and warehouse food donations and are working with a variety of recipient organizations in Haiti. With the ad-hoc international group dubbed ‘SHARE’ , which stands for Soyfoods Haiti Alliance Relief Effort, work is underway to solicit more donations and to facilitate logistics and distribution. In this regard, NGOs such as Feed the Children have emerged as partners to receive and distribute the soyfood donations. Contact with World Food Program has also revealed their request for cooking oil and ready-to-eat foods. Currently there are about 250,000 people receiving food relief in Haiti while estimates of the actual number needing such support at about 900,000. Delivery to beneficiaries still faces huge challenges. Some donated products are piling up at the airport for lack of distribution logistics and coordination. Late in January the seaport near Port au Prince finally began receiving and unloading ships. UN aid workers have fanned out across the Haitian capital to set up permanent distribution sites they hope will smooth the flow of food to the hundreds of thousands living in ramshackle tent camps. For the foreseeable future, further donations will be needed. These should include protein-rich snacks, ready-to-eat foods, beverages, quick-cook products, and cooking oil. Eventually, and on a longer-term basis, donations could include soybeans, soy protein ingredients and micro-nutrient supplements for value-added processing in Haiti. Alliance partners, Malnutrition Matters in North America and Bridge2Food in Europe, are working to solicit and expedite soyfoods donations. The US-based World Soy Foundation is accepting financial donations and can issue US tax receipts. SOURCE: Various
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