Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has told the Dáil that the government has no plans to follow France's lead and introduce legislation compelling supermarkets to deal with waste food.
In response to questions from independent TDs Finian McGrath and Michael Healy-Rae, the Minister said that voluntary schemes currently underway were sufficient in terms of dealing with the issue.
“There is much to be said for promoting voluntary engagement by the industry with such initiatives before consideration by Government on whether legislation is appropriate,” the Minister said.
In France, the government recently moved to outlaw the destruction of food waste by supermarkets, with a law that requires stores to donate unsold food to charity or allocate it for use as compost or animal feed.
The new legislation forms part of an initiative by the French government to cut food waste by half by 2025.
Coveney praised the efforts of two voluntary schemes in this country, BiaFood and FoodCloud “to offer edible food to charities in a safe, efficient and responsive way.”
He added: “In March, BiaFood Initiative joined Bord Bia’s online Origin Green Platform, which provides access to a network of over 400 companies, who could include this as a waste reduction measure in their Origin Green action plans.”
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
