Food for Thought: Hunger and the Bill Emerson Food Donation Act

According to the Natural Resources Protection Council, Americans are wasting up to 40% of their food in 2012 (Gunders 2012). In contrast, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture submitted a document reporting 27% of US food waste in 1997, or about 96 billion pounds of food (Haley 2013). Using the latter ratio means that 40% of food wasted by Americans will be converted to 142.2 billion tons of food a year. If the average person eats 1,996 pounds of food per year (Aubrey 2011), this means that the abandoned food can feed about 71, 142, 285 people.

The Bill Emerson Food Sacrifice Act passed in 1996 by the President Bill Clinton is a federal law that protects all food providers from civil and criminal responsibility when "good will" donates a "very sound" non-profit organization It was not malice. This law also protects civil liability and criminal liability of non-profit organizations that accept such food when distributing to individuals in need of such good food.

There are several Federal laws promoting food donation to the United States. Bill · Emerson Good Samarian Food Donation Act encourages individuals to donate food to certain qualified nonprofit organizations and to ensure that donors are protected. Likewise, the Internal Revenue Code 170 (e) (3) permits companies to reduce taxes to encourage them to donate health foods to non-profit organizations serving the people of the lower-income bracket. Finally, the US federal food donation law in 2008 encourages federal agencies and federal contractors to donate health foods to non-profit organizations for redistribution to food insecure people . These policies suppress food waste by redirecting to individuals in need of nutritious foods.

Since becoming law in 1996, the Federal Bill Emerson Food Giving Act protects individuals and organizations donating food to organizations. Feeding America provides basic information on law and its protection 10. If you have local restrictions and guidelines for food donation in your state, please check with your local food bank. Your cafeteria is on campus so you need to consult the school's risk management office to address their concerns regarding safety, responsibility and risk. Please do this conversation as soon as possible so that you will not encounter any amazing obstacles. Include financial managers, regional food banks, steering committees in at least one meeting with the risk management office and confirm that everyone is on the same page.