Since 2020, the 800-acre Central de Abastos market has reduced daily food waste by 24% and delivered almost 800 tons of unsold food to soup kitchens.

Pohl and the U.N. have been working with the Central de Abastos to stem the tide of food waste, a particularly urgent concern in Mexico, where almost 20% of the population doesn't have enough to eat.

From there, the food is distributed among Mexico City's 450 soup kitchens, which serve 80,000 meals a day. Workers from a soup kitchen load crates of onions, avocados and puny, bruised papayas and ...