Local groups are using Microsoft's cloud to connect large quantities of surplus food with people in need amid rising food insecurity.

Judge as of 2022-11-21. True: there is evidence of one or more local or community organisations active around that date that use Microsoft cloud services (such as Azure, Dynamics or Power Platform) to match or redistribute surplus food in substantial quantities (tons) to people in need, and credible data showing food insecurity rising in 2022. Mostly true: the organisations and their use of Microsoft's cloud are confirmed, but a detail such as the volumes of food is overstated or unquantified. Mixed: the organisations exist and redistribute food, but their reliance on Microsoft's cloud is only partial or unclear. Mostly false: the groups do not mainly use Microsoft's cloud for this, or they operate at negligible scale. False: no such groups or use exists.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Taste of success: FoodCloud uses technology to get surplus food to nonprofits more efficiently - Source EMEA Microsoft Source EMEA (news.microsoft.com) · 8 October 2024 Own record

   “These solutions leverage Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 and Power BI, helping FoodCloud redistribute as much food as possible.”

2. E2 Taste of success: FoodCloud uses technology to get surplus food to nonprofits more efficiently - Source EMEA Microsoft Source EMEA (news.microsoft.com) · 8 October 2024 Own record

   “Since 2013, FoodCloud has redistributed nearly 180 million meals across their two solutions in Ireland, the U.K. and parts of Europe, estimating it has kept more than 75,000 tons of food from going to waste and into landfills.”

3. E3 UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021 World Health Organization · 6 July 2022

   “Around 2.3 billion people in the world (29.3%) were moderately or severely food insecure in 2021 – 350 million more compared to before the outbreak of the COVID‑19 pandemic.”

4. E4 SOFI report: Record hunger on the rise, UN study says | World Food Programme World Food Programme · 15 June 2022

   “Up to 828 million people went hungry in 2021, the ‘State of Food and Nutrition in the World 2022’ (SOFI) report reveals, an increase of 46 million on the previous year”

5. E5 FoodCloud uses Microsoft Azure to help reduce food waste in Ireland Technology Record · 24 November 2022

   “Ireland-based charity and social enterprise FoodCloud is using Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power BI to power its Foodiverse platform, which helps it to distribute surplus food from manufacturers and producers to community groups in need.”

6. E6 FoodCloud 2021 Annual Report FoodCloud (charity; the PDF content is the 2022 Annual Report)

   “The new system leverages Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 and Power BI and was featured in a case study by Microsoft globally”

7. E7 Cost-of-living crisis continuing to impact families – Latest Barnardos and ALDI research - Barnardos Barnardos · 27 February 2024

   “45% of parents are either always or sometimes worried about having enough food for the family. This is slightly up on last year (42%) but has more than doubled since January 2022 (19%).”

8. E8 Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC): Enforced Deprivation 2022 Central Statistics Office (Ireland) · 23 November 2022

   “In 2022, just over one in a hundred (1.4%) were unable to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish (or vegetarian equivalent) every second day, down from 1.6% in 2021.”

An independent trade report from November 2022 [E5] and FoodCloud's own annual report [E6] confirm that FoodCloud, an Irish community food-redistribution charity, used Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 and Power BI to redistribute surplus food around the claim date. The tonnage figure (more than 75,000 tons since 2013) comes only from a 2024 Microsoft source [E2], so the volume is not independently confirmed for the claim date. The UN-backed reports [E3, E4] show global food insecurity rising through 2021, as reported in 2022. Irish data are mixed: Barnardos found parents' worry about food more than doubled after January 2022 [E7], while the official statistics office reported one food-deprivation measure fell in 2022 [E8]. The core claim is supported, but the tonnage and the 2022 food-insecurity trend are only partly confirmed by independent sources.