The Council of Ministers approves today, Tuesday, the draft Food Loss and Waste Prevention Law already presented last October. The new norm, which must go through its processing in the Cortes, maintains in general terms the same actions already presented in the draft, involving all agents of the food chain in a series of obligations with the aim of combating food waste.
As the standard states in the reasons that introduce it, “Food losses and waste are a sign of poor functioning of food systems”, a problem that affects the entire society at economic, moral and environmental levelbecause not only raw materials and prepared food are wasted, but also the resources used to produce them.
The new law is part of the campaign More food, less waste and aims to be the definitive impulse with which Spain tries to comply with one of the goals adopted by the UN in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which considers it urgent to address food losses and waste to combat climate change and eradicate hunger in the world.
According to EU data, it is estimated that 40% of waste is concentrated in the food processing and manufacturing industry, another 40% in the consumer (61% according to a UN report), 15% in restaurants and 5% in food distribution. The new law does not contemplate sanctioning consumers but it does include fines from 2,001 to 60,000 euros for serious offenses committed by companies that do not comply with the measures, figures lower than what was proposed in the first draft, which reached 150,000 euros.
As you have anticipated The countrywith this new law all agents in the food chain will be obliged to establish a prevention plan against waste, prioritizing the use of food, raw or processed materials, for different purposes before the last resort of garbage.
The first priority use of the surplus will be for human consumption, through donations to non-profit companies or food banks, also forcing the signing of collaboration agreements with the receiving organizations and trying to maintain at all times the guarantees of traceability of each food, as well as the specific conditions of collection, storage and distribution.
When donation as food for direct consumption is not possible, the next priority will be its transformation into preserves or processed as juices, jams or sauces; the third contemplated use is the animal feeding and, lastly, the use of surpluses in industrial by-products or their recycling to produce compost or fuels.
Restaurants should make it easy for customers to take leftovers home
Other measures included contemplate actions such as encouraging the sale of products close to expiration with proportional price reductions, inform and facilitate customers of the possibility of take away leftovers of their dishes home -in the case of bars and restaurants, which must have reusable containers for this purpose- or promote the sale of “uglier” vegetables or vegetables with imperfections.
As the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, already stated last October, the new norm does not intend to have so much a sanctioning vocation but more than conviction and awarenessHence, there are no sanctions for consumers, seeking to promote, instead, campaigns of good practices.
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Images | Madrid Food Bank
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