The Real Junk Food Project is, put simply, cooking with a difference. It takes food “waste” destined for landfills – thousands of tonnes since 2013 – and chefs turn into delicious dishes, sold on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis, and supplied for free to schools and community groups.
However, this innovative concept hasn’t come without controversy. Earlier this year, its founder Adam Smith received an expected visit from West Yorkshire Trading Standards and now faces prosecution for “attempting to supply the public with food past its sell-by-date”.
WYTSS said it found more 444 items, which were a cumulative total of 6,345 days past the use-by dates, at one of the charity’s “share houses” in Leeds, which receives unwanted food from supermarkets, wholesalers and farms. TRJFP also has two more premises in Sheffield and Birmingham.
Smith – a former drug addict turned professional chef – was told in a letter that “offences may have been committed” under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as well as Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. He was invited to be interviewed under caution.
“I was told we were making food available that was past its use-by date,” said Smith, who was named as one of the world’s ‘Top 40 Most Influential People’ by AskMen. “That’s the whole point. That’s what we’ve done for four years.
“We’ve fed more than one million people worldwide, with food that’s past its given use-by date, but not one person has ever been sick. We make food safe for human consumption. It’s simple, and it works.
