France Just Passed a Law..........
By Lynn Proctor
@ThankyouLord (698)
St. Petersburg, Florida
December 13, 2015 9:47pm CST
France just passed a law that requires all shops to donate old food to local charities for those who have no or little money with which to buy food.
I think that is a wonderful idea, and that it should be done all over the world. The U.S. is one of the worst offenders, and we could do this with little cost to anyone. All it would take is a truck that comes by twice a week to pick up bins of leftover and discarded food. Just like a garbage truck, but instead of taking it to the landfills, it would go to a clearinghouse where it would be sorted and distributed to other locations. It could be run by volunteers, as so many are. We already do this with our recyclables, so I don't see the big problem. I think it should include restaurants, as well, not just stores. Restaurants throw out food from their kitchen constantly. Some is good, some is not. That is why there needs to be a clearinghouse.
I have seen videos of street people who gather their food from garbage bins outside of stores, etc. The quality of much of the food is still good enough to eat. I was amazed at what is thrown out. But it is good for the street people. Here is the article I read: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/22/france-to-force-big-supermarkets-to-give-away-unsold-food-to-charity
French MPs voted unanimously on Wednesday to force grocery stores to give out-of-date food to those in need, rather than discarding or destroying it.
11 people like this
14 responses
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
Yes, a sorting place to make sure the good food was separated from the truly spoiled food.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
I wish that we were not forced to throw out good food. It is the "health" laws that say it is to protect us from eating spoiled food or food that will make us sick, but it is a lie. It is to keep businesses selling more food, while food that is still edible goes to landfills.
1 person likes this
@cacay1 (83577)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
16 Dec 15
@ThankyouLord It seems like that telling a lie.The rich do not understand the poor.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
@cacay1 They understand, but many do not care, as they care more about how much money they are going to make, and the government wants more and more food to be sold, as they get taxes from it.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
15 Dec 15
yes it would be a wonderful idea but there are laws in Canada and the US that prevent it. The restaurants and food companies do not want anyone getting food poisoning and suing them.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
Well, I am glad France is not concerned about it. I think they are more careful about food handling than we are. They don't even allow GMO produce in their country, as they know it is not healthy. They treasure their food. We don't, in America.
@eagletrek2 (5499)
• Kingston, New York
15 Dec 15
Here the problem with resterraunts
Is the liability if some one get sick from
The food the place of business could get sued
Some charity do not know how to
Handle food the correct way so it will not get bad
1 person likes this
@eagletrek2 (5499)
• Kingston, New York
16 Dec 15
@ThankyouLord
Hi when I work at the blimpie
On eastlake rd by oldsmar fl
We did donate food when the
New owners took over they just wanted
The volunteer who picked up
The food to sign a form
If any one get sicks this bimpes was not responsible.
None of the people in that volunteer group
Want to sign anything. Oldsmar Fl is part of the
Tampa bay area
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
@eagletrek2 Well, it makes sense to agree to something like that. No one can force someone to go to court, etc., if they don't want to. So signing that form did not mean they had to do anything, other than to "not sue."
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
I have gotten food poisoning from a Chinese restaurant. I thought I was going to die. Thousands of people get food poisoning every year from restaurants every year, but who can prove that it was something from the restaurant, since they ate stuff all day? People do sue, but their cases are hard to prove. We get sick sometimes from salmonella and ecoli from tainted vegetables from off the farms both here and in other countries. I think it is inevitable. I think that the food that should get "recycled" is fresh produce that restaurants do not want to use as they are not fresh. But they are still edible, and they have been sitting in the cooler all this time.
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
17 Dec 15
@ThankyouLord The big concern with that is that sales will drop if people think well if I wait til closing time I can have it free. Other than that they worry about people claiming food poisoning its silly but it happens especially with con-artist like some who fake injuries for money.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
I know. I would think that there would be a site on the internet (locally) that would carry listings and times of food being thrown out, and whoever wanted it could come and get it, within an hour or so, then the rest could be disposed of.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
15 Dec 15
Here on the islands most of the restaurants take the left over food from the night and plates and drop them off at animals shelters to feed the homeless animals here. We don't have a lot of homeless people here at all because there is no need for this one. There are people who take care of them if they don't have a home to live in.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
16 Dec 15
@ThankyouLord I think it is necessary to help out and do this. These animals are abounded and left on the streets to starve. So now they have some place to protect them and keep them. They need help to feed them. That is why the places in town deliver buckets of food there for them to use to feed the animals. Here in our stores all meat scraps are packaged up and sold for animal food. I buy them to cook for my dogs and this is their basic diet here in our home.
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@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
Wow! That sounds like Utopia. A place where everything and everyone is taken care of. I love that you told me this. I wish they would do that here. Restaurants throw out tons and tons of food every year, for nothing. When I worked in a restaurant, they didn't allow us to take food home, either, but we smuggled it out. When whole steaks would come back to be thrown away, we all pretended we saw nothing, if someone took it home to eat. That is the way it should be. They say it is for our protection, to keep germs and illness from spreading, but gee, we can and do get germs from everything we touch in public. Food we buy in the stores has already been handled, and so has food in restaurants before it even gets to us at our table. People sneezing, coughing, or otherwise spreading germs is everywhere. If germs are a concern, take the food and boil it or fry it again before eating it.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
@poehere To me, it only makes sense. Cooked meat, fish or poultry will kill any bacteria or viruses present in the meat. Even rotten meat will not hurt you, as the heat will destroy any organisms. But if the meat is that bad, it would smell awful anyway, and the dogs/cats/people would toss it out anyway. Thorough cooking is the key. Abandoned animals just hurt my heart.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
14 Dec 15
As you say, this is a global issue. Here in England all food that is not sold by the "Use By" date is discarded. The stores will not even allow the staff to take it home. These dates are always set early as a safety margin, so the idea of simply throwing it away is a criminal waste.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
It is a criminal waste. Especially since you can go into a store here, and often they are selling off their meats/chicken at a drastically reduced price as it is expiring on that day, and that is legal. Better to just reduce it than to throw it out. I bought a steak the other day, something that I cannot afford normally, but it was on sale because it was expiring. I cooked it thoroughly, and it was delicious. Cooking is so important. If food is questionable, cook the darn thing!
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
4 Feb 17
everyone should pass that law.i got disgusted working in restaurants with the food thrown out daily.
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
I know that bread products are often taken to outlets for resale at a discount. I haven't been in one in years, but for many products, that is a great place to save some dollars. Donating food to the shelters is a great idea, and I know people do that. I suppose there is always a concern that someone will "poison" food just because they are mentally ill, but you never hear of that happening.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
There is just so much waste in the world. We don't see how much we throw away that can be used, whether it is food or goods of some sort. I know some countries, and India might be one of them, tries to take used things and make other products from them. I know they make things from old sari's, like pocketbooks, etc. Poorer countries are much more creative about how to reuse things. My son told me that in Ecuador, nothing is discarded. Everything is reused, as people are very poor there, for the most part.
@psanasangma (7280)
• India
28 Jun 16
This is really a good idea, I wish the same law apply in India also.
In India vegetable vendors and mall staff throw all the old one but never give to hungry people
@simone10 (54187)
• Louisville, Kentucky
14 Dec 15
I think this is a wonderful idea. We do waste an awful lot of food. I have a friend who works for the school system in Vegas. She told us once about how much food they throw away at the end of the day. By law, they have to throw it away and they aren't even allowed to take any home. She was talking about big huge bins and trays of chicken, spaghetti and other foods.
1 person likes this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
15 Dec 15
It's criminal. There is no other word for it.
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
I know. Our landfills are overflowing. One day they will recycle all the crap that is in the landfills, and do something constructive with it. In some countries, very poor ones, the landfills are where the poorest people find their food and things to sell. Landfills in other countries are left with virtually nothing left in them after they've been picked over. Talk about spreading diseases! Ugh.
