France Is Trying To Make It Illegal For Grocery Stores To Waste Food

Tonight, about 805 million people will go to bed hungry. That number has dropped significantly over the last two decades, but still, 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty. 2.6 million children die every year from hunger related causes. But do you know what makes it so much worse?

About a third of all of the food produced worldwide is thrown away every year.

Some grocers are so intent on making sure foragers can’t get to the food they throw away that they lock their dumpsters and some even douse their discarded food in bleach to make sure no one can eat it. Seriously.

On Thursday, France decided to strike back at this waste of food. France’s National Assembly unanimously passed a new measure that would require any supermarket larger than 400 square feet to donate all unsold food to charity, for animal feed or for compost. They also rendered it illegal for grocers to deliberately ruin food.

As The Guardian reports:

“It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,” said Guillaume Garot, the Socialist deputy who sponsored the bill.

Any supermarket that doesn’t conform to the new regulations could face fines up to $75,000 and managers could face two years in jail. Talk about a no nonsense mandate!

This measure aims to cut France’s food waste in half by the middle of the next decade. The lower house of Parliament will vote on the bill next week, and then it’s off to the Senate.