What is wrong with 2nd Harvest? HB

What is Second Harvest?

2nd Harvest is the main controlling agency for food pantries in Orange County. They have contracts with the major grocery stores and food distribution organizations in Orange County
Food pantries or food distribution centers cannot get food without 2nd harvest approval.
While they help coordinate food distributions in Orange County, they really mess up in a lot of areas that are typically ignored resulting in less effective outcomes.
Normally you only read the fluff stories on then, so in this article I will describe what I was as a volunteer in many different locations and activities. I have volunteered thousands of hours.

Problems with 2nd Harvest:
1) They tend to ignore the concerns of the food pantries they are supposedly supporting.
2) They tend to bully the food pantries that voice complaints on recurring issues
3) Food is frequently not stored properly resulting in the remaining shelf life being reduced for food items that are close to the expiration date.
Examples:
A) They often store bread in refrigerators or freezers before sending it to a distribution center. Previously frozen or refrigerated bread typically gets moldy within a few days, possibly because condensation collects during the subsequent warm-up time, thus accelerating the mold’s growth.

B) They often spread mold on fresh fruit because of their poor processing procedures. In their sorting facility in Irvine, they will typically open containers of fruit (like strawberries or other berries) searching for any moldy items to remove. Even though a moldy piece has been removed, they don’t seem to realize that mold spores stay in the container, thereby contaminating the remaining pieces.
Once the package has been given to a customer, there is a high likelihood of mold spreading to other produce in the customer’s refrigerator.

C) Second Harvest does not consistently make on-time deliveries. Many organizations have predetermined days and hours for distribution. For example, if a center is open from 3-5 pm, the driver might arrive at 4 pm. This can be a serious issue if Second Harvest delivers items months, years, or even decades out of date. The volunteers may not have any opportunity to check expiration dates when a delivery is late. Second Harvest does not give distribution organizations any advance notice of what will be delivered.

D) Second Harvest does not appear to treat all distribution centers equally, with some centers frequently receiving better quality food than others.

E) Second Harvest uses government grant money to buy food and vegetables grown in other countries (like China) which is then canned in the USA. Why do they not buy from North American farmers?

F) Second Harvest buys and/or receives canned vegetables and fruits containing BPA.
BPA (Bisphenol A) is a chemical produced for use primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics. BPA can contaminate food, beverages, air, and soil. It accumulates in several human tissues and organs and is potentially harmful to human health through different molecular mechanisms. Due to its hormone-like properties, BPA may bind to estrogen receptors, thereby affecting both body weight and tumorigenesis. These cans are often labeled as containing BPA. The canneries often sell to prisons, hospitals, schools, and food distribution centers, but never to grocery store chains.

G) 2nd Harvest often sends the same food types week after week, with no variety. I have seen some food distribution partners receive the same items 3 weeks in a row. For example, some food distributions have received bread but no vegetables, while others mainly vegetables every time. This creates a lot of food waste. Should someone receive spaghetti EVERY week? Since they keep track of what each partner receives, why do they not provide more variety on upcoming shipments?

An example I vividly remember was when I was involved in all phases of vegetable growing and distribution. In Irvine, 2nd Harvest has a farm where they grow food. They use volunteer labor to plant vegetables there. I helped plant cabbage. When the cabbage was harvested several months later, I was at a weekly food distribution who received pallets of it while none of the other food distributions I helped at received any. I also called others and no one had received any. For 3 consecutive weeks, the food distribution received pallets of it. We estimated there were around 1,500 per pallet. Most of it ended up going in the trash. Why was it not allowed to be shared with other food distributions?

H) Food distributions working with 2nd Harvest are forbidden from sharing any extra food with other nearby food distributions. If 2nd Harvest gets wind of this, they will close a food distribution. I have witnessed this occur multiple times. For some reason they would prefer food to go in the trash. They claim that if the food distribution has extra food, they can file a request with 2nd Harvest and get it approved to give to another food distribution, but that is usually impossible since 2nd harvest representatives are not available when the food is being distributed.

I) Because of diet restrictions, food is sometimes not usable by the recipients. For example, some people cannot eat spicy food, which results in a lot of waste.

J) Distributing large quantities of bad or rotting produce, look at the accompanying pictures.

K ) 2nd Harvest has not had their own food distribution in Irvine since the COVID pandemic, It appears they discovered that they make more money from grants and donations without having to do much work.

L) Volunteers tend to be treated as disposable tools. They are often not given the correct equipment to work with. I could write a whole article on the handling of bad produce contaminating good produce.

M) Their staff appears to be well paid, as from what I have seen they typically have nice cars. Upper management will show up to events, tell the volunteers how important they are, then leave, leaving the volunteers to do the work.

N) Food handling, when they are receiving donations like the Post office collections or a convention, food is literally DROPPED into pallet sized containers called gaylord boxes. Because they are typically 4 to 5 feet tall, it is not possible to reach over the side to set produce boxes on the bottom layer. These boxes end up being dropped and the food in boxes is damaged or spilled. The recipients will then receive food damaged by 2nd Harvest.
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O) 2nd Harvest has stored produce for up to a month, allowing it to go bad before distributing it.

. Due to how they handle money, I recommend donating money directly to a local food pantry instead of to 2nd harvest. To find one, call 211.