The Food Bank is an effective alternative, but the operation of the Food Rescue Center is still opaque

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 02. 03. 10:32

In January 2025, the Food Rescue Center Nonprofit Ltd. (EMK), for the operation of which the state has spent several billion forints in recent years, began its fourth year of operation. EMK’s task would be to distribute the surplus food of retail chains that is close to its shelf life to those in need. However, the results of the first three years and the operation of the organization are surrounded by a lack of transparency, Telex points out.

The food rescue system: obligations and shortcomings

Although the non-profit Hungarian Food Bank has been working since 2005 to ensure that surplus food accumulated at supermarkets reaches families in need, the state decided to get involved in food rescue in 2021. During its 19 years of existence, the Food Bank has already rescued more than 110,000 tons of food, and there are few product types that they have not yet dealt with.

However, several problems have arisen since its launch. In 2022, no offers were received from retail chains, and by the end of 2023, the center had organized only four food collection campaigns. The data they provided does not reveal how much food was saved during the collections, or how much of it was expired products.

Billions in costs, questionable efficiency

Significant resources were spent on the operation of the state-owned company. In 2022, 4.96 billion forints were allocated to EMK, while several hundred million more were spent on the development of IT systems and logistics services. The system developed by SCI-Hálózat Távközlési- és Hálózatintegracációs Zrt. cost a total of 2.2 billion forints, but according to some information, the system was still unusable in 2023.

Logistics services were provided by WSZL Szállításügyi és Logisztikai Kft. under a contract worth nearly 800 million forints. is provided by, whose owner is István Tiborcz. In addition, EMK spent 19 million forints on salaries in 2022, and 47 million forints for the same purpose in 2023.

Food Bank: an effective alternative

While the Food Rescue Center has consumed billions, the Hungarian Food Bank Association, a non-governmental organization, has been successfully carrying out food rescue activities since 2005. With 30 thousand kilograms of food saved per year, they achieve significant results from a fraction of their annual budget. A single thousand forint donation makes it possible to save 30 thousand forints worth of food.