On May 21st 2015, as part of the French energy transition law (in French), the National Assembly has unanimously voted measures aiming to reduce food wastage by forbidding supermarkets to render their unsold articles unsuitable for consumption. They will therefore no longer be allowed to discharge bleach on garbage cans containing still edible food, a habit deplored by Guillaume Garot, Socialist member of the National Assembly of France representing the Mayenne department and former Junior Minister for the Food sector, in his report to the Government dating last April.

Dividing food wastage by two by 2025
Distributors from the food sector are asked to campaign against this issue by donating their unsold articles still suitable for human consumption, to reserve them for animal diet or even as compost for agriculture. Medium and large-scaled supermarkets of over 400 square meters will be obliged to sign an agreement with a charity organization by June 2016. Failure to apply these new measures would expose transgressors to a two-year imprisonment sanction and a 75,000-euro fine. Guillaume Garot, the vote’s instigator, has also reminded that this campaign against food wastage is an international issue, and that households are as much concerned as supermarkets are, since a French citizen discards on average from 20 to 30 kilos of food every year, a figure that the government has set to divide by two by 2025.

Parisian shopping © Paris Tourist Office - Photographe : Amélie Dupont

Guillaume Garot's report on the campaign against food wastage. (in French)

Know more on food wastage. (in French)

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