Senate Policy Committee OKs food-waste prevention bill
California Political Desk
April 30, 2008
SACRAMENTO – The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a plan by state Sen. Jenny Oropeza to allow catering customers to either take home any leftover food or direct that it be donated to a worthy cause.
"In a time when food shortages are gripping some of the world´s poorest countries, there simply is too much eatable food being wasted in California," Oropeza, D-Long Beach, said after her first successful policy hearing on Senate Bill 1443. "This bill makes it easier for the person paying for the food to help food banks and charitable groups statewide.
"Which is to say, a number of people who otherwise might go to bed hungry could enjoy a decent meal," Oropeza added.
Specifically, SB 1443 would require restaurants, caterers, hotels and other retail-food facilities to include language in catering contracts that would allow customers the choice of either authorizing any leftovers to be donated or to let the customers take their leftovers home.
The changes outlined in SB 1443 would complement existing state and federal laws that limit liability for injuries from consuming donated food that is fit for human consumption at the time it was given away, Oropeza said.
Despite those longstanding laws, however, nearly 6 million tons of food was discarded in state landfills, making food the biggest, single source of waste in those landfills, according to a 2004 study by the California Environmental Protection Agency.
"This bill does not mandate that those who sell and serve catered food do anything other than allow the paying customers to decide how any leftovers that have not been served should be handled," Oropeza said. "They can take their food home or they can give it away."
SB 1443 next goes to the full Senate for a floor vote. No date has yet been set.
"In a time when food shortages are gripping some of the world´s poorest countries, there simply is too much eatable food being wasted in California," Oropeza, D-Long Beach, said after her first successful policy hearing on Senate Bill 1443. "This bill makes it easier for the person paying for the food to help food banks and charitable groups statewide.
"Which is to say, a number of people who otherwise might go to bed hungry could enjoy a decent meal," Oropeza added.
Specifically, SB 1443 would require restaurants, caterers, hotels and other retail-food facilities to include language in catering contracts that would allow customers the choice of either authorizing any leftovers to be donated or to let the customers take their leftovers home.
The changes outlined in SB 1443 would complement existing state and federal laws that limit liability for injuries from consuming donated food that is fit for human consumption at the time it was given away, Oropeza said.
Despite those longstanding laws, however, nearly 6 million tons of food was discarded in state landfills, making food the biggest, single source of waste in those landfills, according to a 2004 study by the California Environmental Protection Agency.
"This bill does not mandate that those who sell and serve catered food do anything other than allow the paying customers to decide how any leftovers that have not been served should be handled," Oropeza said. "They can take their food home or they can give it away."
SB 1443 next goes to the full Senate for a floor vote. No date has yet been set.