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First social supermarket to open in Copenhagen

Lucie Rychla
January 21st, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Danish NGO is helping the poor by fighting food waste

Folkekirkens Nødhjælp, the Danish humanitarian NGO, is opening the first social supermarket in Denmark on February 22, reports DR.

The 245 sqm store is called ‘Wefood’ and will be located at Amagerbrogade 151 in Copenhagen.

At Wefood, customers can buy surplus food that would otherwise be thrown out for a heavily discounted price.

The food comes from a number of suppliers including restaurants, cafes and Dansk Supermarked, the country’s largest supermarket chain.

To help the world’s poor 
Wefood is run by volunteers and all the profits will go to Folkekirkens Nødhjælp’s work in the world’s poorest countries.

The inspiration to open such a store came from London and Vienna, where similar shops sell cheap food to the socially-disadvantaged.

The Danish supermarket will, however, be open to everyone.

Wasted food and money
If the concept proves successful, the organisation will open similar stores elsewhere in Denmark.

Every year, Danes throw out over 700,000 tonnes of food and waste about 11.6 billion kroner.

Meanwhile, some 800 million people go hungry every day.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”