As the day of combating food waste approaches (29 September), Maisto bankas and Mantinga have joined forces for the initiative “Saved Flavors: Bread and Apple Jam”.

A study conducted by the order of the Ministry of Agriculture shows that more than 1,101 tons of apples are lost in the production and trade sectors in Lithuania per year. This number does not include the number of private yards with apple trees, abandoned orchards in the country, where apples also fall and rot every autumn. As the day of combating food waste approaches, we initiated the project “Saved Flavors: Bread and Apple Jam” – during it, thousands of apples were picked from the abandoned orchard and apple jam was made and juice was squeezed. These products will reach needy families in Lithuania. 

"Mantinga" volunteers – managers and employees – came to pick apples in the abandoned hundred-year-old orchard near Marijampolė. They, together with the help of specialists and students from Maisto bankas and Marijampolė Vocational Training Center, implemented the entire food preservation process – from collecting, peeling, cutting, cooking apples to bottling the ready-made new product in jars. Cooked apple jam will be given to needy people.

 It is no coincidence that bread is also mentioned in the name of the initiative – apple jam will be invited to be tasted with bread that does not meet the sales standards, so it could turn into waste. In this case, the bread will also be saved and used for a noble purpose.

The aim of this initiative is to draw attention to the problem of food waste. Both Maisto bankas and Mantinga have this mission.

“As a business whose main activity is the production of food products, the topic of food waste is extremely important to us. First of all, we start with ourselves: we reduce the amount of by-products in the production process, for example, we return dough scraps and crumbs to the production process as much as possible. We treat non-standard products with the same responsibility, which are just as high-quality, tasty, suitable for eating as those sold – we hand them over to organizations such as Maisto Bankas,” says Mantas Agentas, CEO of Mantinga Group.

Maisto bankas and Mantinga have been cooperating for more than 12 years. Every year, thousands of our products reach Maisto bankas, which are handed over to those in need of food. In 2023, the organization reached production with a value of about 135 thousand euros.