Dear Editors,

One of your readers recently shared concerns about how Publix bakery donations at her local store were handled. Publix is deeply committed to preventing food waste and doing our part to alleviate hunger in the communities we serve. While we fact-gather to learn more about what happened at this particular store on this particular day, we want to take a moment to share with you our bakery donation process.

Every night, associates at all of our stores scan the bakery department for items that can be donated to local partners. Other than some foods that are discarded for food safety reasons/precautions, our protocol is to pull items from the shelves on their sell-by-date, place in a grocery cart, and bring to the back of the store where our local partners like Ecumenical Food Pantry, Guadalupe Mission and others pick up the donated food.

Our founder, George Jenkins, was intolerant of waste when he started Publix in 1930. Nearly 90 years later, intolerance of waste, remains a core part of our company’s mission and a top priority for Publix associates. That’s why, since 2009, Publix has donated 427 million pounds of perishable food – 356 million meals – in partnership with Feeding America.