MESA São Paulo’s performance during the Coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Mesa Brazil is a social program developed by the Social Service of Commerce that seeks to reduce food waste and help fight hunger. Objective: The objective of the study was to understand its performance in a period of humanitarian, sanitary, environmental and world socioeconomic crisis. Methods: This is a qualitative cross-sectional study that carried out semi-structured interviews with the state and municipal coordinators (metropolis, coast and countryside) and the Mesa Brazil Collection and Storage Center in São Paulo. The analysis of all the material was of a thematic type. Results: Among the main changes and adaptations are the reduction of donations, for which there was flexibility in the registration of institutions, assistance to families, development of campaigns and basic baskets with hygiene and cleaning products; increase in donations of ultra-processed products, for which there was the respective adherence to certain unusual products. Conclusion: The program has shown enormous capacity to develop creative measures for the new scenario in a relatively short time, many of which can serve as inspiration for other initiatives. It was even more essential for this emergency scenario, especially with regard to feeding the vulnerable population within a country with absent public policies for this.