French MPs want law to make supermarkets donate food
Picture used for representational purpose (Photo: AFP)
Paris,: A group of French MPs has proposed to all supermarkets to hand over all unsold food still fit for human consumption to charity. A draft bill has been tabled by the MPs in this connection. A few supermarket chains already donate such unsold products to charities. The MPs, however, want it to be made compulsory for supermarkets with 1,000 square metres of floor space, to give their “unsold but still consumable food products to at least any food charity,” reported The Telegraph.
The move follows proposals by the European Union to cancel compulsory “best before” labels on coffee, rice, dry pasta, hard cheeses, jams and pickles to help reduce the estimated 100 million tons of food wasted across Europe every year.
The MPs believe that despite a “national pact against food wastage” launched in 2013, measures preventing still-edible food being thrown away are “insufficient”. They cited World Food Organisation estimate that a third of food products on the planet that are still fit for human consumption are currently “lost or wasted”.
The MPs said they were targeting larger food corporations as their “logistics and important stock” made it easier for them to organise such donations than smaller shops.In France alone, each supermarket produces 200 tons of waste per year. They throw away between 20 to 30kg of food waste each year, seven of which are unopened when they hit the rubbish bin, representing an estimated £318 of wasted food per home.
The French federation of food banks welcomed the proposal, saying: “This text is a good thing as it will enable us to gather even more unsold produce.”
( Source : agencies )
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