Updates from the Food Coop and Cafe:

The FoE Food Co-op and Cafe remains open for click-and-collect online ordering!
Place your order via the website to pick up with minimal faff!

The Food Coop and Cafe is still open for shopping in-store. We operating with necessary physical distancing and hygiene measures in place.

Open daily during the Melbourne lockdown for organic bulk food and grocery shopping, and serving vegan takeaway meals.

Monday-Friday 10-6 / Saturday 10-5 / Sunday 11-4

We cannot yet fully comprehend the impact that COVID-19 will have on Friends of the Earth and our community. But, like many small retail and hospitality outlets, our social enterprise cafe and bulk foods store is already being hit hard by the pandemic. 

And, we're excited to announce that you can now order online to 'Click and Collect' seasonal vegetable boxes, bulk food, pantry items and groceries. 

Friends of the Earth podcast history series made in collaboration with 3CR 855 AM community radio show Acting Up! 
Monday 2:00pm-2.30pm.  Ratbags, peaceniks and agents of change, resistance radio that explores the movements that made us. 

45 years of Acting Up! Pesticides, permaculture, organics & food co-op audio episode

Listen up mp3
Presenter: Em Gayfer
Guests: Beth Cameron, Leanne McLean, Esala Liyanage, Peter Podolinsky, Alex Bhathal

In the 1970s and 1980s Friends of the Earth campaigned on food justice, agricultural pollution, and the politics of food. In 2020, Friends of the Earth continues to champion food safety and sovereignty, building relationships with Indigenous and local growers and producers, and promoting fair trade.  FOE Melbourne’s Food Co-operative & Café is 45 years strong, offering biodynamic vegetarian and vegan fresh and bulk food.  The Food Co-op & Café is leading the way in sustainable food practices, waste minimisation, giving space to FOE fund-raising events, supporting activists and growing community, powered by 1,000s of volunteers from across the world.  Continue reading about key moments in FOE's food justice and food co-operative communities from 1975 - 2020.

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FoE), today raised concerns about PFAS (Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) contaminants which may be present on food grown with recycled water in the Werribee South area of Victoria.

A recent study “Investigating recycled water use as a diffuse source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) to groundwater in Melbourne, Australia” published in Science of the Total Environment 644 (2018) 1409–1417 has revealed that recycled and groundwater from the Werribee South Irrigation District are contaminated with PFAS chemicals.

The PFAS laden water is applied to vegetables grown in the area. The likely source of the contaminated water is sewerage treated at the Western Treatment Plant, however FoE also believes that groundwater contamination may have been caused by the nearby RAAF Base Williams, Point Cook (Victoria), where PFAS fire fighting foam was used for many years.

Friends of the Earth is proudly hosting Professor Poulos to speak about Pesticides in Food.  Emphasis during the presentation will include:  Different susceptibilities to pesticides (based on genetics, age and development in the womb) and acute and chronic health impacts.

Media release. October 24, 2017

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth today published results of a statewide survey of pesticide pollution in the State’s drinking water supplies.

The results were sourced from Freedom of Information (FoI) Requests from all of the State’s drinking water authorities. The multiple FOI .requests covered the years 2007 through to 2016.

“This is the first time such a survey has apparently been conducted” said FoE spokesperson Anthony Amis.  “Improved monitoring by some water authorities since 2012 has allowed a more accurate understanding about what pesticides are being washed into water supplies.”

The following media release is from the CSIRO (February 2017) and notes that Australia’s average wheat yields did not increase from 1990 to 2015. In fact, Australia’s wheat yield potential declined by 27 per cent over the past quarter of a century and that this decline was 'consistent with the higher end of future climate change projections for the wheat zone over the coming 26 years.'

Friends of the Earth would like to thank all our members, supporters, donors and allies for a great year. The campaigns office will close on the evening of December 24 and re open on monday January 4.

The food co-op and cafe will be closed for public holidays – please see below for the full details on opening hours.

See you in 2016!

Direct from the USA - Dr Don Huber, Plant Pathologist, Purdue University, Indiana

Dr Huber is an award-winning, world-renowned scientist. His opposition to genetically manipulated (GM) crops and glyphosate-based Roundup weedkiller results from 35 years of acclaimed research. He will explain how Roundup causes disease, reduces nutrient density in food, leaves residues that kill beneficial soil and gut bacteria and degrades the soil. GM crop safety has not been established.

Roundup is sprayed in home gardens and, by local authorities and contractors, on playgrounds, roadsides, parks, schools and childcare centres to manage weeds. Herbicide tolerant GM crops are drenched with Roundup– the weeds die, the plants survive. We eat the food made from these contaminated GM crops. Conventional farmers also use Roundup extensively. There are many safe alternatives to this toxic chemical.