The Citizens' Council on Nutrition recommends mandatory food donations. Lidl, Rewe and the food trade association see the “lion’s share of losses” in a completely different place.
The “Citizens’ Council on Nutrition” believes that expired foods that are still edible do not belong in the bin. Accordingly, one of his nine recommendations is the mandatory distribution of edible food by food retailers. Supermarkets and other grocery stores with a sales area of 400 square meters or more should be obliged to pass on edible food that would otherwise be thrown away to charitable organizations.
On April 12, 2024, the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag will discuss these and other recommendations from the Citizens' Assembly. For the President of the Food Trade Association (BVLH), Björn Fromm, it is already clear: “An obligation to donate to the food trade is not a new proposal,” he tells
BuzzFeed News Germany
from
IPPEN.MEDIA.
“It has already been discussed in recent years and a different path was chosen.”
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Mandatory food donations: What do Lidl and Rewe think about it?
What Fromm means by this is the pact against food waste that 14 food companies, including Aldi, Lidl and Rewe, and the Food Trade Association (BVLH) concluded with the Federal Ministry of Nutrition (BMEL) in June 2023. It aims to halve food waste from the grocery store by 2030.
In order to achieve this, grocers have imposed several self-imposed measures. One of the voluntary commitments: enter into a cooperation with a primarily non-profit organization at at least 90 percent of their business locations to pass on food that is still edible.
Aren't these exactly the mandatory food donations that the Citizens' Nutrition Council is calling for? “The Citizens' Assembly's recommendation has been implemented by Lidl for years,” says a spokesman for the supermarket chain
BuzzFeed News Germany.
In 2023, 98 percent of Lidl locations would have worked with local food banks or other non-profit organizations.
Rewe also reports that it sees “no need” for a legal obligation to donate food, as donating food has been “practice for many years” in the German food trade. “A law would probably make donations unnecessarily difficult through additional bureaucratic effort. Rather, charitable institutions such as the food banks must be reliably and continuously supported by the federal and state governments - financially and infrastructurally," says a spokesman for
BuzzFeed News Germany.
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Food trade association wants “more recognition”
The “Food Rescue Alliance”, which includes German Environmental Aid and the environmental organization WWF, among others, calls the companies’ voluntary commitment a “blunt sword without the possibility of legal sanctions”. They are demanding binding guidelines against food waste along the entire supply chain from Federal Food Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens), who is calling for impunity for containers.
According to critics, upstream production and processing have been left out for the time being. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, more than twice as much food is thrown away (17 percent) as the food trade (7 percent). “The data is clear: some of the lowest losses occur in trading. The lion's share of losses occur in private households (59 percent). “Therefore, great attention must be paid to consumer communication,” says Fromm.
With the pact against food waste, we have basically agreed what other European neighboring countries regulate legally. The control is carried out by the Thünen Institute, a state research institution within the scope of the BMEL. Fromm refers to a study by the institute from 2020, according to which companies' willingness to pass on food has increased. “I would like to see more recognition for the food retail sector’s commitment to the issue of food waste,” he says.
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