English Information

Despite still being perfectly edible, tons of food are destroyed in Germany every day. At the same time, there are millions of people in this country who do not have enough to eat. The Tafel are working on bridging this gap between excess on the one hand and lack on the other. They collect qualitatively good food that would otherwise land in the garbage and distribute it for free or a symbolic amount to socially and economically disadvantaged people. There are currently more than 970 Tafel in Germany. All of them are nonprofit organizations. The Tafel support 1.6 to 2 million people in need of food throughout the country – nearly one third of them are children and youth.

All the involved parties benefit from the Tafel idea: Grocers and producers take on social responsibility, and people in need receive much needed high quality groceries. Furthermore food waste is reduced, which protects the environment and valuable resources.

The Tafel are one of the largest volunteer based organizations in Germany. They are financed by donations and receive no public financing. Only food that is donated to the Tafel can be distributed to those in need; no food is purchased. Rent, transport and administrative costs of the Tafel are covered by private donations and the business community.

Without donations there can be no Tafel. Help us to help others.

Detailed information on the use of donations can be found in our annual report:

Entire Edition (single-sided, PDF file, 2,7 MB)

Entire Edition (double-sided, PDF file, 2,6 MB)

Further information can be found in our image brochure (PDF file).