Supermarkets and the government reached an agreement, today, Thursday to fight against food waste.
The agreement covers a series of voluntary commitments, to strengthen actions against food waste, following a meeting earlier today, Thursday with the Minister of Ecology, Segolene Royal.
These measures include the obligation for retailers to maximize their donations to associations or recovery of waste, and the State’s commitment to financially support these associations.
They have reached this decision after ten days of discussions between Ségolène Royal and distributors.
Signed agreement
Specifically, representatives of supermarkets and the Minister signed a “voluntary commitment agreement in favour of the fight against food waste ‘.
For distributors, the latter includes a priority commitment to waste prevention and the obligation to promote “the use of unsold food for human consumption, through donation or transformation”, the latter must be either transforming the products into animal feed, or “compost for agriculture or energy recovery, including anaerobic digestion”, the document says.
No more bleach on unsold …
Moreover, “without prejudice to rules on food safety, distributors promise to not deliberately make food supplies still unsold, unfit for human consumption or any form of recovery”.
These obligations are directed at food stores over 400 square meters, which will also train their personnel to the fight against waste.
Finally, “signs of large retailers commit to implement fully and without delay the provisions of the energy transition law suppressing the display of optimal use deadlines” on a number of grocery products (vinegar, sugar, etc.).
Most of these measures were contained in the bill on energy transition Ségolène Royal, but had been censored by the Constitutional Council on procedural matters.
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