Should Supermarkets Be Mandated to Donate Food Waste?

It was almost exactly two years ago we reported that France legislated that supermarkets were prohibited from discarding unused foods, and were instead required to donate them. 

These laws “make it the norm to reduce waste,” says Marie Mourad, a PhD student in sociology at Sciences Po in Paris who has authored several reports on French food waste. “France is not the country that wastes the least food, but they have become the most proactive because they want to be the exemplary country in Europe.” 

For perspective, only 11% of France’s 7.1 million metric tons of wasted food comes from supermarkets. 

France’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. The country earned the top ranking in the 2017 Food Sustainability Index, a survey of 25 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas conducted by the Economist and the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Foundation (BCFN). 

The people of France wasted 234 pounds of food per person annually, according to the report—which is drastically better than France’s international counterparts, compared to about 430 pounds per capita thrown away year in the U.S. 

French National Assembly member Guillaume Garot helped frame the legislation with his previous experience as the former junior minister for the food industry—a position that in and of itself proves France’s dedication to the issue. 

Related:What Do Shoppers Want?

 “Making it illegal for supermarkets to throw away food is massive,” says Jonathan Bloom, author of the book “American Wasteland.” “That legislative step has impacted all levels of the French food chain.” 

I know it's not popular to say, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could pass the same law here in the U.S.?