<div><div><p paraid="653973797" paraeid="{844d2c69-734a-4cf7-9a50-7e32149f5728}{23}" style="text-align:center;"><em>Natural Choice Foods was named the winner of this year’s Food Safety Innovation Award for its efforts to address food waste through innovative repackaging and redistribution approaches. </em></p><p paraid="653973797" paraeid="{844d2c69-734a-4cf7-9a50-7e32149f5728}{23}">By Ashley Eisenbeiser, Vice President, Food and Product Safety Programs, <span style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">FMI </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;"></span></p></div><p paraid="2038191394" paraeid="{844d2c69-734a-4cf7-9a50-7e32149f5728}{43}"><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/ncf-logo-refresh.tmb-large-350-.jpeg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=d2ddc39e_1" style="float:right;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:10px;" alt="Natural Choice Foods Logo" class="-align-right" sf-size="325794" />Food safety and sustainability rarely share the same headline—but Natural Choice Foods (NCF) is proving that innovation at the intersection of the two is not only possible, it’s transformative. NCF has earned FMI’s 2025 Food Safety Innovation Award for its unique and impactful solution to address food waste and food safety by creating a closed-loop system for repackaging and redistributing excess food from major food manufacturers. </p></div><div><p paraid="1907947088" paraeid="{844d2c69-734a-4cf7-9a50-7e32149f5728}{55}">NCF is the eighth recipient of FMI’s Food Safety Innovation Award, an annual award presented in partnership with the <a href="https://www.ifpti.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">International Food Protection Training Institute</a> (IFPTI). The award recognizes companies who have made an innovative contribution or commitment to food safety, and encourage others in industry, government and academia to search for creative solutions and implement new practices in continuing to keep our food the safest it can be. </p></div><div><p paraid="2016904955" paraeid="{844d2c69-734a-4cf7-9a50-7e32149f5728}{98}">NCF’s innovation benefits food safety and food waste by enabling proper redistribution of excess private brand and foodservice products that would otherwise be discarded. Their process adheres to strict food safety standards as well as partnering with regulatory agencies in order to provide independent operators and small distributors with a secondary market for safe products nationwide. NCF’s approach not only supports the environment by diverting millions of pounds of food from waste but also enhances food access in communities through more affordable retail and food service channels. In 2024 alone, NCF repackaged and redistributed over nine million pounds of food that would have likely ended up in landfills. </p></div><div><p paraid="572974746" paraeid="{844d2c69-734a-4cf7-9a50-7e32149f5728}{154}">We are proud to recognize Natural Choice Foods as this year’s recipient of the Food Safety Innovation Award for their innovative approach to address the growing challenge of food waste in a safe, responsible and economically beneficial way. By combining food safety, sustainability and supply chain efficiency, NCF is reshaping how excess food is managed in the U.S. food system. </p></div>
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