A proposed bill could curb food waste and benefit shelters and food banks at the same time.
House Bill 47 would establish the Missouri Food Waste Law by requiring “all persons having annual food sale revenues above $5 million to donate 10 percent of their excess food that is fit for human consumption to needy individuals or nonprofit organizations that provide food to needy individuals.”
The USDA estimates 30 to 40 percent of the food supply is wasted; in 2010, the last year data was available, around 133 billion pounds of food was wasted, including at the retail and consumer levels.
Rep. Richard Brown, D-Kansas City, is sponsoring the bill and said the problem is not only wasted food itself but also wasted energy that goes into producing food that never makes it into people’s homes.
He recalls a 2016 incident in Kansas City when leftover barbecue from the American Royal Barbecue competition designated for people in need was drenched in bleach by Kansas City health department officials due to health concerns.
“That was good food,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of food insecurity in this country and so what I’m trying to do is to find a way to make sure that healthy food is getting into the hands of individuals.”
HB 47 mainly targets bigger retailers and stores, many of which follow self-imposed guidelines about food donations. According to Walmart’s corporate office, the retailer donated around 26 percent of its global food waste in the 2018 fiscal year and 32 million pounds of food to local food banks in Missouri.
Local fresh food store Friedrich’s Market sells regional and seasonal produce and foods. Owner Nicole Radke said thanks to careful planning, the grocery store produces little waste to begin with.
“We not only buy in bulk but we also don’t have to have a lot of packaging and things like that and we try to recycle whatever we can,” Radke said. “We probably have one trash bag a week. We really don’t have enough to donate. When we do, instead of taking it to the food bank, we fill the little pantries that are in the neighborhood.”
Radke said she thinks while retailers should be held accountable for food waste and encouraged to give back to the community, reducing food waste can start at home by educating people about what “bad” produce is.
“People want their produce to be nice and pretty and flawless and that’s a lot of what drives the waste as well, the expectation that customers have,” Radke said. “It goes both ways, a little bit of education but then also instead of literally putting all that stuff in the trash being able to give that to the communities.”
Brown hopes the law would make Missouri a pioneer when it comes to sustainability and reducing waste, similar to France. In 2016, the European nation became the first country to forbid supermarkets from throwing out unsold food items that are still fit for consumption.
“This is an opportunity for Missouri to be a leader here in the country of being at the forefront of this issue,” Brown said. “I hope that my colleagues in the House and the Senate will agree with me and we can move this bill forward and do something to try to help some of the food insecurity issues in our state.”
The bill is currently not scheduled for a hearing, and Brown hopes to further refine the law with input from other lawmakers.