Italy: academic not for profit. The Last minute market

The Last minute market has officially taken on a role in the Italian third sector. The project saw its beginnings in the classrooms of Bologna university?s Agricultural faculty in 1998. Andrea Segrè, head of the faculty and founder of Last minute market says: ? From my own experience I found out that supermarkets threw out a great quantity of foodstuffs that could still be eaten for the simple reason that the packaging was imperfect (damaged, wet etc.) and could thus not be sold on the shelves.? Segrè decided to take on this waste in a scientific manner. ?I assigned to my graduate students dissertations that aimed to investigate what went on behind the scenes of the fruit and vegetable areas in supermarkets. A large shopping centre offered to open its doors to my students, who weighed what was being thrown out for a total period of three years. Graduate students became Phd. students. The results came in 2003: we discovered that 700 tonnes of good food products had been thrown out. The solution? To direct the goods to those organisations that distribute food to the poor. In actual fact, the organisations go and collect what they need on a daily basis.? Last minute market operates in 13 Italian cities; it is activities are coordinated by the Carpe Cibum cooperative, which is made up of Mr. Segrè?s dissertation students. Last minute book (books off the market) is Last minute market?s sequel project and Last minute farmacy is in the making. Info: www.lastminutemarket.org