http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/22/france-to-force-big-supermarkets-to-give-away-unsold-food-to-charity
I've held a few jobs in the food service industry. The amount of waste is considerable. Sure, some of it's rotten, but mostly, it's just expiration dates or removing "old" but still edible food and drink to make room for a fresh batch.
Actually using this stuff for something instead of chucking it in the trash sounds like a pretty obvious and sensible choice. In fact, It's surprising this hasn't been done for decades already.
Although it was against policy, I had a co-worker who would give some of the "old" food to a couple stray cats by the dumpster. She got them acclimated to her enough to pet them without them running away. One day, she picked them up and put them in the car of this elderly couple who wanted to adopt them. If a couple cats could benefit from a simple act of kindness, what about people?
I've worked a lot of food service jobs and I currently volunteer about 10 hours a week at the local food pantry. Quite a bit of food gets donated, even prepared foods. Many large local groceries like Wal-Mart, Target, Bi-Lo, Publix and Trader Joes hand over thousands of pounds of food every day that has reached its sell by date or was damaged in packaging but still sealed. And it's everything: bread, produce, dairy, meat, and even birthday cakes and donuts.
Quite a few places will not give anything away as a matter of "principle" and the thinking is that if they give it away their customers won't buy any of it. The people who would eat it are generally people who can't afford to buy it in the first place. Most big chains who do give some give such a small percentage of what they destroy intentionally and the pittance they do give is a tiny fraction of what they actually do throw out. I've been chased out of dumpsters for getting food and have had my life threatened over it, but most who do throw food away put it in large sealed dumpsters with hydraulic rams to make sure nobody can access it.. The waste is mind boggling. Former congressman Tony Hall held hearings over the waste back in the 70's and 80's and served up banquets in Washington, but was mercilessly mocked in the press and by Republicans specifically while their constituents went hungry..
Working for a 50-whatever country, multi-national, world's largest food service provider...
...the reason we are forced to throw out anything expired rather than donate it or take it home ourselves (not that we don't do it anyways) is that if someone comes down sick from it, it becomes a liability to the company and grounds to be sued. It has nothing to do with keeping the "supply and demand" in their favour or anything nefarious, they just don't want any potential lawsuits.
I would wager this is the reason most major companies have the same practice rather than any sort of heartless disdain for the poor or what have you. I definitely think the ball is in the state's park to say, "Okay, if you want to donate your expired (to a certain point), we will protect you and encourage you to do so." rather than on companies to do it out of the kindness of their heart and hope it doesn't bite them in the ass.
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on May 22, 2015, 01:27:03 PM
most who do throw food away put it in large sealed dumpsters with hydraulic rams to make sure nobody can access it.. The waste is mind boggling.
I've worked in food markets before and we did throw quite a bit away, but we also donated day old bread and prepackaged refrigerated food. That was in Texas. Maybe it's a location thing, but even large local businesses here in South Carolina where I live now donate most everything that is still edible according to USDA guidelines.
And even the fancy stuff from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods comes in, so along with standard emergency food pantry fare like sacks of rice and canned goods, we hand out everything from artisan bread and caprese salad to carrot cake cupcakes and kale salads with chick peas and hearts of palm.
Quote from: TomFoolery on May 22, 2015, 01:08:38 PMQuite a bit of food gets donated, even prepared foods. Many large local groceries like Wal-Mart, Target, Bi-Lo, Publix and Trader Joes hand over thousands of pounds of food every day that has reached its sell by date or was damaged in packaging but still sealed. And it's everything: bread, produce, dairy, meat, and even birthday cakes and donuts.
True, some food is donated. And yet, much of it isn't. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/22/how-food-actually-gets-wasted-in-the-united-states/)
Quote from: Shiranu on May 22, 2015, 01:56:55 PM
Working for a 50-whatever country, multi-national, world's largest food service provider...
...the reason we are forced to throw out anything expired rather than donate it or take it home ourselves (not that we don't do it anyways) is that if someone comes down sick from it, it becomes a liability to the company and grounds to be sued. It has nothing to do with keeping the "supply and demand" in their favour or anything nefarious, they just don't want any potential lawsuits.
I would wager this is the reason most major companies have the same practice rather than any sort of heartless disdain for the poor or what have you. I definitely think the ball is in the state's park to say, "Okay, if you want to donate your expired (to a certain point), we will protect you and encourage you to do so." rather than on companies to do it out of the kindness of their heart and hope it doesn't bite them in the ass.
Well, according to USDA guidelines, most foods are good beyond their sell by date. Hard cheese properly sealed is good for up to six months past labelled expiration, yogurt and other dairy products up to seven days. It does get tricky with things like meat, which has to be stored at certain temperatures. We do throw away a lot of donated meat because it can't be processed in time, and USDA guidelines only allow it to be unrefrigerated for up to 30 minutes.
Quote from: TomFoolery on May 22, 2015, 02:02:54 PM
Well, according to USDA guidelines, most foods are good beyond their sell by date. Hard cheese properly sealed is good for up to six months past labelled expiration, yogurt and other dairy products up to seven days. It does get tricky with things like meat, which has to be stored at certain temperatures. We do throw away a lot of donated meat because it can't be processed in time, and USDA guidelines only allow it to be unrefrigerated for up to 30 minutes.
This was just the reason I was given. That said, it's a company based on London and operates in 54 or 56 different countries. It also has a decent history of being accused of all-sorts of illegal acts, such as bribing of elected officials in several countries, underpaying staff, rigging bidding for corporate contracts, and so on and so forth. Oh, and accused by the UN of racketeering and giving money to the Iraqi government rather than the Iraqi people as part of the UN oil-for-food programme.
If I had to wager a guess they want to make sure that they don't have anything that can be used against them because they are involved in enough questionable shit as it is.
The more I look up, the more it's no surprise just how bullshit my job is. It's as bad as some of the big banks and oil companies in terms of how sketchy it is...
Quote from: Shiranu on May 22, 2015, 01:56:55 PM...the reason we are forced to throw out anything expired rather than donate it or take it home ourselves (not that we don't do it anyways) is that if someone comes down sick from it, it becomes a liability to the company and grounds to be sued. It has nothing to do with keeping the "supply and demand" in their favour or anything nefarious, they just don't want any potential lawsuits.
While that is true in many countries, US law exempts food donators from most legal liability (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Emerson_Good_Samaritan_Act_of_1996), assuming certain conditions are met.
Quote from: Hydra009 on May 22, 2015, 02:55:22 PM
While that is true in many countries, US law exempts food donators from most legal liability (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Emerson_Good_Samaritan_Act_of_1996), assuming certain conditions are met.
I can see that being kind of a double edged sword, but the client waiting room of our food pantry is full of informational posters about how to tell if food is really bad.
I'll admit, there's plenty of times when I'm sorting through bread and especially produce and I have internal arguments. We get TONS (literally, TONS) of produce every week, and a lot of it has minor defects or cosmetically defective (too small or misshapen). But apples with brown spots, pre-sliced mushrooms that went a little brown, zucchini with a soft spot on the end. I personally would still eat those things. Maybe sauté up the mushrooms instead of eat them on salad and just cut the bad part off of still mostly good vegetables.
I guess I had never considered how legislation works in other countries about donated food. I know it can vary even due to city ordinances here in the states.