France: A Global Leader in Fighting Food Waste
- Lauren Pappalardo
- Feb 4, 2024
- 2 min read
France is known all around the world for its renowned restaurants, stunning views, and historical monuments. However, in recent years, this European country has made a name for itself in a new category: food sustainability. It’s no secret that the French appreciate their food, but in 2016 they passed a Food Waste Prevention Legislation that proved their commitment to not wasting it.
The law’s objective was to reduce food waste through incentivizing food donations and forbidding destruction of unsold food products. More specifically, it aimed to establish an anti-food waste hierarchy in the following order: food waste prevention through discounts and awareness raising, donation to charity organizations, animal feed, composting or anaerobic digestion, and disposal. To enforce this hierarchy, the law bans large supermarkets from disposing or destroying unsold, edible food that has reached its sell-by date but is still fit for consumption. Further, it requires supermarkets above 4,500 square feet to establish an agreement with food assistance organizations / charity organizations to donate their excess, unsold food products. Stores that do not follow these regulations face significant fines for each infraction.
The law was the first of its kind and sparked impactful changes in France’s food system regarding food waste. Most notably, supermarkets formed more thoughtful, organized, and effective food-waste policies and processes that were better enforced. These strategies included but were not limited to more strict organization of food by expiration dates in stores, discounting food products approaching their sell-by-date, and advertising said products to encourage purchase. To no surprise, a rise in food donations also resulted from France’s Food Waste Prevention Legislation. In fact, the National French Food Federation cited an 11% increase in food donations from 2016 (before the law) to 2017 (after the law). More food donations positively impacted the country’s nutritional challenges, allowing charities and food banks to increase the quality and diversity of the food distributed to those in need, with many reporting distributing more fresh fruits and vegetables.
The impact of the Food Waste Prevention Legislation led France to the top of the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) in 2017, just one year after the law passed. The FSI examines how food systems are performing across three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. While this accomplishment was a significant step for France, the country continues to work towards cutting food waste even more. Since 2016, several provisions were adopted to the law, expanding its scope to other forms of food distribution. Specifically, in 2019, a provision was added that extended the ban of destruction of unsold food products fit for consumption and the obligation to donate unsold food products to mass catering companies and the food service industry. Additionally, commercial catering companies were required to offer doggy-bag options and some actors in the food industry and mass catering sector were obliged to make publicly statements proving their commitment to reduce food waste. Finally, in 2020, fines for destroying unsold food products fit for consumption were strengthened. Since, France continues to lead European countries in food waste management.
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