Against Unnecessary Food Wastage (just a working title)
Category: Social Justice (probably - one could argue this to be Environmental: Manufacturing, too)
Strength: Mild
The World Assembly,
Concerned that in many nations the current trend in food industry is to ignore the loss of edible foodstuffs at every step of the process from the producer to the consumer, and simply produce more than is needed,
Aware that in many nations the sheer overabundance of food available leads to a lot of it spoiling rather than being eaten,
Reminding the representatives of the member nations that in some nations food is scarce without an actual famine situation, despite the previous efforts of WA legislation,
Hoping to encourage goodwill and cooperation between the member nations to ensure adequate nutrition1 to every legal resident2 of the World Assembly nations3,
Hereby,
1. Defines, for the purposes of this legislation,
- "unconsumed food" as food that is still safe to eat, but which has passed an arbitrary sell-by-date,
- "donatable food" as food that will still be safe to eat after being transported a reasonable distance in an adequately equipped transport vehicle,
- "manufacturing leftovers" as foodstuffs4 which still can be used to gain nutrition from, but which the food industry considers unprofitable to process further,
- "food loss" as the wastage of safe and nutritionally sound foodstuffs,
2. Requires that all member nations conduct a survey to find out the total food loss within their jurisdiction, with the intent of finding out which step of the producer-to-consumer chain needs improvements most critically,5
3. Requires that all food manufacturers take all possible reasonable steps6 to reduce the amount of manufacturing leftovers,
4. Encourages food manufacturers to donate manufacturing leftovers to non-profit organizations that are willing to process them further for the purpose of donating the foodstuffs to a foreign nation7,
5. Encourages grocery stores and other food sellers to either sell unconsumed food at a large discount, or donate it to non-profit organizations that will see to it being distributed further8,
6. Mandates that no non-profit organization, whether state-owned or otherwise, can distribute foodstuffs they know are not safe to eat, and requires them to do randomized tests to ensure the safety of the donated food,
7. Encourages member nations to waive the taxes and tariffs on donatable food, when it is exported or imported by a non-profit organization with the intent of minimizing food loss by distributing the foodstuffs to the poor and needy.
OOC: Inspired by, and offered for the use of The Great Boom, but as they didn't want it, posted by myself.