About one third of food produced around the world is spoiled or wasted before consumption and a billion people go hungry on daily basis. India also suffers significant food loss and food waste, while 196 million people remain undernourished. In recent years, there has been growing concern about hunger, resource conservation, and the environmental and economic costs associated with food waste. This, in turn, has accelerated public and private efforts to make better use of available food supplies by recovering safe and nutritious food that would otherwise be wasted.
Considering the fact that some food is wasted on the shelves and in the warehouses of food businesses either due to excess production, introduction of new products, labelling errors, or due to shorter remaining shelf life, such food could be salvaged by withdrawing it timely from the distribution network, aggregating it and then redirecting it to the people in need. In this backdrop, and with the aim of encouraging individuals and organizations to donate food for those in need, Food Authority has come up with the Food Safety and Standards (Recovery and Distribution of surplus food) Regulations, 2019 so as to provide a legitimate backup to the food donation in India.
The purpose of these regulations is:Â
· To establish a uniform national regulation to protect organizations and individuals when they donate food in good faith.Â
· To encourage the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations for distribution to needy individuals.
