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Tons of unsold food gets dumped when fresh stock rolls in, but rather than trashing or intentionally spoiling most of the edible goods leftover, France will require large supermarkets to sign a contract with a charity to receive the food as donations or to donate the food as animal feed.

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

French supermarkets will be banned from throwing away or destroying unsold food and must instead donate it to charities or for animal feed, under a law set to crack down on food waste.

The French national assembly voted unanimously to pass the legislation as France battles an epidemic of wasted food that has highlighted the divide between giant food firms and people who are struggling to eat.

As MPs united in a rare cross-party consensus, the centre-right deputy Yves Jégo told parliament: “There’s an absolute urgency – charities are desperate for food. The most moving part of this law is that it opens us up to others who are suffering.”

Supermarkets will be barred from deliberately spoiling unsold food so it cannot be eaten. Those with a footprint of 4,305 sq ft (400 sq m) or more will have to sign contracts with charities by July next year or face penalties including fines of up to €75,000 (£53,000) or two years in jail.

“It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,” said the Socialist deputy Guillaume Garot, a former food minister who proposed the bill.

Donate to a charitable place if old.

 

[Haly]

You can donate to a charity here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1050042

 

[Caelus]

Maybe Costco will follow suit with their hotdogs and soda.

 

[zero shift]

Incredible news.

 

[John Kowalski]

You can donate to a charity here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1050042

What? Do you take me for a fool? Gaf doesn't need food, it needs brains!

To think with. Not eat.

 

[Maengun1]

Cool news. I worked in a restaurant in college for a year and it was pretty soul-crushing seeing how much food gets thrown away in a single day...or even a single hour. Of course nibbled on restaurant food and untouched supermarket food are different cases, but waste in general happens at insane levels. Good to see it addressed.

 

[WARCOCK]

French food is the best too. The homeless have a new dilemma. Hawaii for the weather or France for the food?

 

[MedIC86]

I read on reddit or somewhere that the big supermarkets waste is only 5% of the total or so...

 

[BadWolf]

Good, this is such an obvious thing to do.

 

[ratcliffja]

I'm not big on France's anti-Muslim laws, but this is something that the ready of the world should copy. Great job, France.

 

[mangochutney]

I read on reddit or somewhere that the big supermarkets waste is only 5% of the total or so...

Now imagine how much food that 5% actually equates too.

A good thing to force them to do I suppose. I know in this country a lot of supermarkets already do donate tinned, jarred and long life packet foods to charity.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Now imagine how much food that 5% actually equates too.

And even if we pretend this 5% isn't a lot, I'd still argue anything is better than nothing. It's a damn good start.

 

[real_slime]

Yeah, I helped run a soup kitchen for a while and food outlets intentionally ruining food at the end of the day was something we encountered and heard about. It always made me pretty angry, since there was so much waste and people could really have used it. Food that is 100% fine, but wouldn't be regulation the next day, just goes in the bin rather than put to good use.

It's probably difficult logistically to handle, so I always thought there should be some kind of agency that could take pick up and distribution of this food on as a responsibility. Having a law like this sounds like an interesting idea in that direction.