Abstract
This work proposes a mathematical linear programming model that addresses the food provisioning problem of the food bank of Madrid. It aims to determine the most appropriate weekly decisions to meet the macro-nutritional requirements of the beneficiaries of this social service, by minimizing the total cost considering third-party donations. The model has been applied to a realistic case study considering a sociological structure of beneficiaries categorized by age and gender and representing the first decile of incomes of the Spanish population. The demand of macronutrients is satisfied by means of nine different groups of food, used to provide some level of variability in the consumption patterns of the beneficiaries. The results provide insight on cost-cutting opportunities related to centralizing the decision-making process, indicating a 10% reduction both in provisioning costs and food quantities. This suggests that the proposed model might serve as a tool for designing new strategies for the provisioning or evaluation of economic and social support policies for the food bank of Madrid.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic places Spanish society at a juncture in which both the health system and the social conscience are put to the test while the economy falters
This paper addresses the decision making of the Madrid Food Bank to improve its response to the nutritional needs of the different population groups that are beneficiaries of its services
It presents a mathematical-financial linear programming model that helps to make an optimized food supply based on the minimization of the cost that allows to cover the nutritional requirements needed by the beneficiaries
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic places Spanish society at a juncture in which both the health system and the social conscience are put to the test while the economy falters. The UPM study is not taking into account the origin of these macronutrients (it is not considering which food groups should be used to cover the needs), nor it is making a sufficiently precise or detailed representation of the macro-nutritional needs of the different population groups It does not address the economic aspect of the food groups, resulting, in a study with areas for improvement, which have been addressed in this paper. This paper addresses the decision making of the Madrid Food Bank to improve its response to the nutritional needs of the different population groups that are beneficiaries of its services. It presents a mathematical-financial linear programming model that helps to make an optimized food supply based on the minimization of the cost that allows to cover the nutritional requirements needed by the beneficiaries.
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