The Government foresees fines of up to 500,000 euros for repeat offenders that commit food waste
The Government has made into law that oft-repeated saying that “food is not thrown away”. The Council of Ministers yesterday approved a bill that aims to combat food waste, a phenomenon that results in more than 1,300 million kilos of food being wasted per year, that is, about 31 kilos per person. The future Food Loss and Waste Prevention Law will oblige all agents in the chain – from the farmer and rancher to the consumer, passing through industry and distribution – and will require companies to have a prevention plan to avoid surpluses. In addition, it will sanction with fines of between 2,001 and 60,000 euros those who have not presented said project. Penalties may even reach 500,000 euros in case of recidivism.
Among the measures included in the rule, ready to start its parliamentary journey, is the obligation for restaurants to inform their customers of the possibility of taking leftovers, except in all-you-can-eat establishments. In any case, this service will be offered at no additional cost, and bars and restaurants must offer “suitable packaging”. The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, stressed that the priority set by the law is that food surpluses be used for human consumption, through donations to food banks and NGOs. For this, supermarkets and restaurants will sign agreements that reflect the conditions of collection, transport and storage of products, among other issues.
If it is not possible to donate the goods, efforts will be made to transform the fruits and vegetables into juices, jams or creams. When the food is no longer suitable for human consumption, it will be directed, preferably and in this order, to animal feed and the manufacture of feed; to the use in other industries as waste, and to the elaboration of compost or biofuels.
Businesses will have to encourage the sale of products with an imminent expiration date with discounts
The standard proposes more measures to prevent food from ending up in the container. Thus, companies will have to certify annually how much they waste, while businesses will have to encourage the sale of products with an expiration date soon.
“There is no more expensive food product than the one that ends up in the garbage, the one that is wasted,” argued the minister, who estimated the losses per person that such waste entails at 250 euros, something that has social and economic consequences, but also ethical and environmental. Not in vain, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that approximately 30% of the food produced in the world is wasted, which is equivalent to about 1,300 million tons per year. Nearly half of this waste occurs in the post-harvest and retail phase.
Given that the State cannot interfere in homes to impose fines, Planas argued that many actions will be aimed at raising awareness of the problem. “This is not intended to be an interventionist law, but rather a regulatory and awareness law,” argued the head of Agriculture.
awareness
75% of Spanish households waste food, according to an Agriculture study on the problem. Of the products that are thrown away, three quarters are unprocessed items that are not even cooked. Among the most frequent fruit (32), vegetables and greens (13.6), bread (4.8%) and milk (4.5%) stand out.
Something unacceptable when in the world there are more than 800 million people who suffer from hunger and 1,600 million with malnutrition problems. Planas asserted that with this legislation, Spain is becoming one of the few countries that legislates on the matter, since only France and Italy had done so until now.
The European Union committed to 2030, in compliance with the UN objectives, to halve food waste from both companies and consumers.
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