Edible Food Recovery & SB 1383

What is edible food? Edible food is food intended for people to eat, including food not sold because of appearance, age, freshness, grade, surplus, etc. Edible food includes, but is not limited to, prepared foods, packaged foods, and produce.

What is SB-1383? SB-1383 is a California bill that sets goals to decrease disposal of organic waste in landfills to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This reduction includes putting edible foods to use in feeding those with food insecurities rather than ending up in a landfill. Almost 1 in 4 Californians don’t have enough to eat. To reduce unnecessary food waste and help address food insecurity, SB 1383 requires California to recover 20% of edible food, that would have otherwise been sent to landfills and redistribute or donate to those in need by 2025.

Food

What are the requirements?


• Jurisdictions must establish edible food recovery outreach and inspection programs to help connect edible food generators with food recovery organizations and services that can redistribute or donate edible food to those in need.

• Jurisdictions are responsible for ensuring there is sufficient county-wide capacity to recover and redistribute all edible food.

• Certain edible food generators must arrange to recover the maximum amount of their edible food that would otherwise go to landfills and must establish contracts with food recovery organizations and services to keep records of all edible food donated and ensure there is a plan of action to donate/recover their edible food.

• Food recovery organizations and services that work with edible food generators must maintain and submit records of donated edible food they have collected.