Food Donation Act
Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (1996)
and
Food Donation Improvement Act (2023)
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act establishes Federal protection from civil and criminal liability for persons involved in the donation and distribution of food and grocery products to needy individuals when certain criteria are met. In order to receive protection under the Act, a person or gleaner must donate in good faith apparently wholesome food or apparently fit grocery products to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals. The Act also provides protection against civil and criminal liability to the nonprofit organizations that receive such donated items in good faith.
The act passed in 1996 also required the donor organization should donate food to qualified domestic non-profit organizations only that will then use the food to care for the ill, the needy or infants. The language around liabilities and the rigidness of the law has resulted in logistical overhead and inefficiencies to how food can be rescued and delivered to those in need.
The Food Donation Improvement Act (FDIA) legislation was passed on January 5, 2023, it aims to reduce both food waste and food insecurity. This bill builds on the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (passed in 1996) which encourages companies to donate surplus food to nonprofits by providing civil and criminal liability protection both to food donors and nonprofit intermediaries. The FDIA will enhance the coverage of the Emerson Act by expanding liability protection in two ways that will support modern food donation.
First, the FDIA will extend protections to certain donations given by food businesses, those which are already required to comply with food safety requirements, directly to those in need. Currently the law only protects food donors who donate food to a nonprofit organization which distributes the food to food insecure individuals. By also protecting direct donations to those in need, the FDIA will increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enable consumption of perishable food. Food insecure individuals will now be able to pick up food right from the source, such as local restaurants, grocery stores, and schools.
Second, the FDIA will extend liability protection to donations offered to recipients at a good Samaritan reduced price—a price that is not greater than the cost of handling, administering, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, and distributing the food. Currently, the Emerson Act only protects food donations if the final recipient receives the food for free. However, some nonprofits, such as social supermarkets, which sell food at a greatly reduced rate, can fill a need for food insecure individuals who may be unwilling or unable to qualify for government assistance or use a traditional food pantry or soup kitchen. By extending liability protection for donations to these nonprofits, the FDIA will allow for innovation in food distribution models to ensure broader access to food and increased food rescue. This change will make food donation and recovery more sustainable in the long term as it allows organizations to work with more partners to collect surplus food if they can cover the costs.