• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

France to make destroying unsold food illegal/giving to charities mandatory

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Log4Girlz

Member
http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ermarkets-to-give-away-unsold-food-to-charity

"France’s parliament has pledged to crack down on a national epidemic of food waste by passing a law banning supermarkets destroying unsold food, instead obliging them to give it to charities or put it to other uses such as animal feed.

The national assembly voted unanimously on Thursday evening in favour of the measure, proposed by the Socialist deputy Guillaume Garot, a former food minister. “It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,” he said.

The law explicitly bans the practice of supermarkets deliberately spoiling unsold food so it cannot be eaten. Bigger supermarkets – those with a footprint of 400 sq m or more – will be obliged to sign formal contracts with charities by July next year, or face penalties including fines of up to €75,000 (£53,000) or two years in jail."

You know, I kind of like the idea. What do you think?
 
L

Log4Girlz

Member
Pankratous said:
You mean this isn't in place everywhere?

Because it absolutely should be.
Click to expand...

In the US there is fear of litigation. I think some states have enacted laws to make suing for alleged food poisoning from donated food more difficult as many are frivolous cash grabs.
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
It should be mandatory for every business.

I've seen a lot of food get thrown out at Five Guys. If they make too many fries, they just take out a black bag, and dump them all in there.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
I would have hoped this would have been a common sense thing to do.

I keep forgetting I am on planet earth.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I remember that some chains over here feared similar measures because they rather have food banks buying their own groceries/being supplied by volunteers than sacrifice a small amount of their profits.

I hope this spreads over the rest of the EU.
 
V

Vashetti

Banned
Great!

In my old retail job we'd throw out anywhere from 1-3 bags of perfectly good food every night, all because it passes that arbitrary date and we can't legally sell it.

What gets me, is that we've already thrown it out, ergo we don't want it anymore. Yet if a homeless person got ahold of it, they could get prosecuted for stealing. Makes no sense.
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
This used to be incredibly common in the US. That was until loads of people started suing the companies donating the food. A few greedy people screwed it up for the many, completely typical.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Every country in the world should - at the very least - mandate that all wasted food be turned into compost.
 
P

pa22word

Member
Aztechnology said:
This used to be incredibly common in the US. That was until loads of people started suing the companies donating the food. A few greedy people screwed it up for the many, completely typical.
Click to expand...

Yup.

Local walmart here makes a habit of, at 5 AM sharp everymorning, of taking all the "foodwaste", wrapping it up in saran-wrap, placing it carefully in a big heavy duty trashbag, and *gently* placing it a few feet outside the back door.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
Aztechnology said:
This used to be incredibly common in the US. That was until loads of people started suing the companies donating the food. A few greedy people screwed it up for the many, completely typical.
Click to expand...
I'd always imagined this being the problem with simply giving unsold food away.
 
C

cameron

Member
Awesome.

Most countries have Good Samaritan laws that protect food donations made in good faith. There's no criminal/civil liability if someone gets sick. Supermarkets have no excuse for not donating.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Vashetti said:
Great!

In my old retail job we'd throw out anywhere from 1-3 bags of perfectly good food every night, all because it passes that arbitrary date and we can't legally sell it.

What gets me, is that we've already thrown it out, ergo we don't want it anymore. Yet if a homeless person got ahold of it, they could get prosecuted for stealing. Makes no sense.
Click to expand...

When I worked at McDonalds, at the end of the night one of my managers would occasionally give any remaining food to homeless people who were nearby.

He got fired for it. Justification being that it would potentially end up endangering staff members because large groups of homeless people would end up coming to the store expecting to be fed. I believe there were some examples of this happening in the past and that McDonalds corporate took a firm stance on it.
 
G

Gnome Scat

Member
Good job, France.

brentrambooriginal.gif
 
T

theignoramus

Member
JordanN said:
It should be mandatory for every business.

I've seen a lot of food get thrown out at Five Guys. If they make too many fries, they just take out a black bag, and dump them all in there.
Click to expand...

Bleh, reheated fries are nasty. I wouldnt prevent anyone from throwing them away. Burgers are a different story.
 
D

DrROBschiz

Member
Does the legislation regulate preserving said food and making sure its safe to eat?

This is important

I think this is one of the core causes to why so much is wasted. We should mandate that instead of "Planning to dispose" we should legislate a "Plan to preserve and pass on safely"

The problem is that the food business is notoriously tough and has tight margins. Ingredients can swing wildly in price etc...

Thats a lof of added cost and pressure put on restaurant owners. Maybe the responsibility to be shifted to a third party that actually aquires the left over food and its up to them to ensure its safety and transport.

UPDATE: Aww ok they are focusing more on supermarkets. This is great legislation!
 
R

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
I see nothing wrong with this. If they were going to throw the food away, better give it to someone in need instead. It's not like they are losing money by doing the latter instead of the former.
 
J

jiggles

Banned
Hmm. I can't say I agree with the concept of forced donation. They'd have done better introducing an incentive to do it, rather than punishing you for not doing it.
 
Mistake

Mistake

Member
I once heard that walmart in the US used to do this with animal food until some people would deliberately rip bags to get them donated. After that they started dumping all of it. I don't know how many giant bags I saw go in the disposal. And yeah, same with restaurants. Although managers would break the rules occasionally if something got made wrong, and someone was allowed to have it.
 
Sakura

Sakura

Member
I don't get it. So if there is a jug of milk that reaches its expiry date, its illegal to throw it out? They have to give old milk to charities or something? Or does this law only apply to certain foods/practises? I don't think poor people should be given expired food as an act of kindness.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
jiggles said:
Hmm. I can't say I agree with the concept of forced donation.
Click to expand...
I don't agree with that definition. It is just another way of disposing unsellable produce. They are not giving away vegetables fresh out of the truck, but the ones that after a couple of days they are starting to lose its fresh looks and are rutinely removed because they can't sell them (even if they are still 100% edible).

It's not like produce can be dumped on the streets. They need to carry it to special containers. This ensures that it's not wasted on landfills, not unlike glass and paper containers for recycling.
 
S

Semajer

Member
Good. I used to work in KFC, and the amount of food that would go to waste each night was staggering. Fried stuff probably isn't as easy to transport and distribute as supermarket food, but something should be done with it rather than just bagging it up and stuffing it in the bin.
 
D

DrROBschiz

Member
Sakura said:
I don't get it. So if there is a jug of milk that reaches its expiry date, its illegal to throw it out? They have to give old milk to charities or something? Or does this law only apply to certain foods/practises? I don't think poor people should be given expired food as an act of kindness.
Click to expand...

Yeah the law kind of needs to be specific. I hope it is but that would also make it rdidiculously long

I would hope that enforcement of said laws are based on a reasonable assessment

Semajer said:
Good. I used to work in KFC, and the amount of food that would go to waste each night was staggering. Fried stuff probably isn't as easy to transport and distribute as supermarket food, but something should be done with it rather than just bagging it up and stuffing it in the bin.
Click to expand...

Uhhh I would say fast food vendors can go ahead and be exempt from this lol....
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I'm sure the law will be detailed enough (the French don't fuck around when it comes to food safety... or just food in general), but people should be able to make the distinction between "best before" and "expiration date". They are not the same thing, folks!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
France to force big supermarkets to give unsold food to charities
12
1K
real_slime replied
  • Locked
The Panama Papers - Massive leak of secret documents about offshore companies
15 16 17 18 19
938
170K
anonymous_abc replied
  • Locked
The Sugar Conspiracy (how bad nutrition science made us fatter and unhealthier)
5 6 7 8 9
411
50K
Bonfires Down replied
Top Bottom