BILL NUMBER: S8993

SPONSOR: ALCANTARA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to requiring supermarkets to make excess food available to
qualifying charities

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill is designed to increase food donations to food banks and other
providers who feed the needy and to help reduce dangerous emissions of
methane from the decomposition of organic waste in landfills.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends environmental conservation law article 27
by adding a new title 28 to establish the "Excess Food Act." The Excess
Food Act provides the following:

1. Definitions. As used in this article shall have the following mean-
ing:
              

(a) "Excess food" means edible food that is not sold or used by a super-
market and which is being disposed of by a supermarket due to quality
standards, labeling, appearance, surplus or other similar conditions.

(b) "Qualifying charity" means (i) a religious organization which
provides food for free to needy persons, or (ii) a charity qualified
under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code which provides food
for free to needy persons, including food banks and food pantries which
provide food to other qualified charities.

(c) "Supermarkets" means a physical retail store with more than ten
thousand square feet devoted to offering food for human consumption for
sale to the general public.

2. Availability requirement.

(a) Every supermarket shall from time to time make available excess food
it has on its premises to qualifying charities.

(b) No supermarket may be required to provide or maintain a particular
quantity or level of excess food, or to transport or distribute excess
food

(c) A supermarket shall be in compliance with this act if it in good
faith arranges for the collection of excess food with a qualifying char-
ity that has requested in writing to collect excess food.

(d) A supermarket may impose reasonable restrictions on the time and
manner of collection so as not to interfere with its business oper-
ations.

(e) A supermarket may dispose of any excess food which is not timely
collected by a qualifying charity.

3. Exclusions.


(a) Excess foods shall not include unpackaged fresh meat, fish and poul-
try; contaminated food; food damaged by storage conditions; food offered
for sale from a hot, cold or prepared food bar; over the counter medi-
cines; and any food subject to recall.

4. Construction. Nothing in this tile shall supersede any state or
federal health laws or regulations regarding the handling of foods.

5. Enforcement. A supermarket that does not meet the requirements of
this title shall not be subject to the penalties specified in title
twenty-seven of article seventy-one of this chapter.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION:

The amended version eliminates the section on immunity from liability,
modifies the enforcement provision and changes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Hunger in the U.S. and our state is a serious problem. An estimated 50
million Americans, including nearly 16 million children, do not have
sufficient food. Meanwhile, 60 - 100 million tons of edible food is
discarded in the United States, primarily to solid waste landfills.
Decomposition of organic waste accounts for over 15 percent of our
nation's emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Hunger and food insecurity - the uncertainty of having, or inability to
acquire, enough food to meet household food needs exists in every county
in our state. An estimated 2.8 million New Yorkers (over 14%) are facing
hunger and food insecurity. Moreover, a significant number of those
households do not qualify for federal nutrition assistance.

As noted in the Food Bank for Westchester Food Dating Guide, the majori-
ty of food items that are close to or past the indicated date on their
packages are still safe for consumption. This includes items passed the
"expiration date," "sell by date," "use by date" and "pack date." These
codes are used by manufacturers to ensure that consumers receive their
product in peak quality. Supermarkets regularly dispose of these unused
food items and most are of good quality and safe to eat. This legis-
lation will require supermarkets of a certain size to donate this excess
food to organizations that provide food for free to the needy.

While supermarkets of a certain size are required to participate, they
are not required to provide a particular quantity of food or transport
or distribute it. Qualifying organizations must make a written request
for the excess food and arrange to collect the food at a date and time
arranged with the supermarket. Not only will there be no cost to partic-
ipating supermarkets - there may be savings - since supermarkets will no
longer have to pay to have excess food collected and discarded.

The donation of excess food by supermarkets to qualifying charities that
feed the hungry will go a long way to help address food insecurity in
our state without additional costs to participating supermarkets. In
addition, the donation of excess food will also reduce food waste
disposed of in solid waste landfills which create dangerous emissions.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.