Food Industry Donations

Due to the high demand for food assistance, our drivers and trucks are needed to distribute food to the community.

If you need to deliver outside of our delivery hours or have additional questions, please send an email to the Food Procurement Team – DonateFood@SanDiegoFoodBank.org.

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The Food Bank welcomes food donations from across the food industry. We receive food donations from manufacturers, produce growers and packers, distributors and wholesalers, grocery stores, and community food drives.

Foods We Accept

We accept food that is in its original packaging, unopened and within our food code date/extension guidelines. We accept whole, fresh produce without significant decay, with the exception of homegrown citrus fruits. Please read notice below.

Foods We Do Not Accept:

• Foods that were not kept at the appropriate temperatures
• Canned goods that are open, punctured, bulging or seriously damaged
• Home prepared, home canned or home jarred products
• Items that contain alcohol or have alcohol in the product name
• Homegrown citrus fruits – Please read the notice below.

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Due to the current ACP Citrus Quarantine in effect in Southern California, the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank can only accept citrus donations from noncommercial sources under the following conditions:

• In order to donate directly to the Food Bank we must have a copy on file of your official “Cooperative Asian Citrus Phyllid and Huanglongbing Quarantine Program Compliance Agreement” with Exhibit ACP Citrus-FS

Should you not have the above document and are unable to file for one then in order to donate any citrus, we encourage you to contact one of the two organizations:

• Produce Good – producegood.org
• Senior Gleaners of San Diego County – www.seniorgleanerssdco.org

These organizations will send out volunteers to pick and inspect homegrown produce and deliver it to food banks in the area including the San Diego Food Bank and our North County Food Bank chapter.

To find more information about the citrus quarantine, please visit www.citrusinsider.org and to file for compliance agreements please contact the San Diego County Department of Weights & Measures. https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/awm/CQP.html

We Practice Food Safety Everyday

We take our responsibility to you and the people we serve very seriously. Donating food to our Food Bank isn’t only smart, it’s safe, too.

• All of our drivers and warehouse staff are trained to handle food safely. They undergo yearly food-safety training.
• Our trucks are refrigerated to keep food at safe temperatures.
• We train all partner agencies how to safely prepare and handle food they receive from the Food Bank.
• We evaluated our partner agency pantries and kitchens for their food-safety practices.
• We are routinely inspected by the USDA and State and County Public Health Inspectors.

Worried About Liability?

There is no danger in donating food to the Food Bank that follows the guidelines above. The federal government has laws protecting donors from liability.

Questions?

If you have questions about donating please contact Kayla Thomson, Food Procurement Team, at DonateFood@sandiegofoodbank.org.