Paris: In a rare show of unity France’s parliament voted unanimously yesterday to ban food waste in big supermarkets, notably by outlawing the destruction of unsold food products.
“It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,†said Socialist member of parliament Guillaume Garot who sponsored the bill.
Under the new legislation, supermarkets will have to take measures to prevent food waste and will be forced to donate any unsold but still edible food goods to charity or for use as animal feed or farming compost.
All large-sized supermarkets will have to sign contracts with a charity group to facilitate food donations.
French people throw away between 20 to 30 kilos of food per person per year costing an estimated €12 to 20 billion (RM48 to 80 billion) annually.
The government is hoping to slice food waste in half by 2025.
In recent years, French media have highlighted how poor families, students, unemployed or homeless people often stealthily forage in supermarket bins at night to feed themselves, able to survive on edible products which had been thrown out just as their best-before dates approached.
But some supermarkets doused binned food in bleach to prevent potential food-poisoning by eating food from bins. Other supermarkets deliberately binned food in locked warehouses for collection by refuse trucks to stop scavengers.