California passes food donation law

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1219 into law. AB 1219, known as the California Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and authored by Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), expands on the state’s existing liability protections for food donors.

The bill requires health inspectors to educate businesses about the laws that exist to protect food donors from liability, which is the first time that a state has mandated widespread outreach for food donation laws. 

“Reducing food insecurity is an achievable goal. My bill will cut down the amount of food ending up in landfills by encouraging donors to help hungry Californians,” Eggman says. 

Food insecurity affects 1 in 8 Californians, including 1 in 4 children, and at the same time 40 percent of food available in the U.S. is never eaten. In California, food makes up the largest portion of total waste sent to landfills. According to a survey by the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, Washington, 44 percent of manufacturers, 41 percent of restaurants and 25 percent of retailers identified fear of liability as their primary barrier to food donation. The California Good Samaritan Food Donation Act is designed to more explicitly state the types of food donations that are protected.

“Getting food to people who need it is the highest and best use of food that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill,” Melissa Romero, policy associate for Californians Against Waste, says. “The requirements of this bill will dispel the myth that food donors can be sued and send a strong signal that good food should never go to waste.”

Californians Against Waste and the California Association of Food Banks co-sponsored AB 1219.

“This legislation provides much-needed clarity for groups that want to help feed hungry people,” Andrew Cheyne, director of government affairs for California Association of Food Banks, says. “This is particularly the case for donors who have valuable sources of protein but hesitated donating because they lacked certainty about the state’s policy, by clearing this up we can get more food to people who need it the most.”