MEAL: Model of Empathy Augmented Logistics for Food Security

Millions globally lack access to nutritious food, experiencing food insecurity. Efforts to address food insecurity seek to provide con- sumers food that may be rescued (i.e., what warehouses or grocers would otherwise soon discard as unusable), directly donated, or acquired using governmental funds.

Current approaches produce allocations that optimize global objectives to store and move food efficiently across food banks. However, they largely overlook consumer preferences and constraints. As a result, the resulting allocations lead to consumers either using foods they do not care for or discarding such foods, leading to food waste.

This paper presents a new model, studied via human study and agent- based simulation, that shows how incorporating the consumer perspec- tive on par with the provider perspective can lead to better outcomes overall. We find that persuasive messages that include individual circum- stances and the social context can promote prosociality and empathy.