FRANCE BANNED SUPERMARKETS FROM TOSSING EDIBLE FOOD
A French food waste law passed the Senate unanimously, banning supermarkets from trashing edible food and pushing big stores to hand it to charities.
The Senate adopted the bill on February 3, 2016, after the National Assembly had already approved it, the Guardian reported. The paper called France the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food and to require donations to charities and food banks. The law was promulgated on February 11, 2016.
Jacques Bailet, head of the food bank network Banques Alimentaires, said the law was “positive and very important symbolically.”
What the law requires
Under the official text, food retailers with a sales area greater than 400 square metres must propose donation agreements to one or more approved food-aid associations. The arrangement has to be set out in an agreement between the retailer and the association.
The statute also bans deliberately making unsold food that is still safe to eat unfit for consumption. It sets a fine of €3,750 for food distributors that do it.
The law also makes it easier for food businesses to donate certain excess products straight to food-aid associations. That includes retailer-branded products made by factories.
“That is very important for food banks because this is a real source of quality products, coming straight from the factory,” Bailet said.
He also said mandatory deals would improve the quality and diversity of what food banks get. “In terms of nutritional balance, we currently have a deficit of meat and a lack of fruit and vegetables. This will hopefully allow us to push for those products,” he said.
The campaign behind it
The law grew out of a grassroots campaign by shoppers, anti-poverty campaigners and opponents of food waste, which led to a petition. The Guardian identified Courbevoie municipal councillor Arash Derambarsh as the initiator.
The paper reported that families, students, unemployed people and homeless people had been searching supermarket bins at night for edible food. Some supermarkets reportedly poured bleach on discarded food or locked it in warehouses before refuse collection.
Derambarsh had bigger plans. “This battle is only just beginning. We now have to fight food waste in restaurants, bakeries, school canteens and company canteens,” he said. He also wanted President François Hollande to push Jean-Claude Juncker to extend the law across the EU.
France has also made headlines as the first EU nation to ban social media for kids under 15.
How supermarkets and charities reacted
Carrefour, which the Guardian identified as France’s largest supermarket group, welcomed the law. It said it would build on donations its supermarkets already made.
Food banks welcomed it too, but faced a practical problem. The Guardian reported that charities would need more volunteers, vehicles, warehouse space and refrigerated storage to handle the extra food.
Distribution comes with strings attached. The paper reported hygiene requirements, plus a rule that food be handed out with “dignity” through a food bank or centre rather than as a street handout.
The UK, by comparison, relied on a voluntary agreement with grocery and retail businesses and had no mandatory targets at the time, the Guardian reported.
What happened next
The Agriculture Ministry described the 2016 law as setting a waste-prevention hierarchy. Prevention comes first, then donation or processing, then animal feed, and finally composting or energy recovery.
The ban on making edible food unfit for consumption now covers food-processing companies, wholesalers, retailers and collective catering, the ministry said. The Ecological Transition Ministry said donation agreements are also required for larger collective-catering operators, food-processing businesses and wholesalers.
The Agriculture Ministry also commissioned an evaluation study from EY three years after promulgation. It was meant to assess how the law’s food-donation provisions were being applied.
On October 3, 2026, the Agriculture Ministry described the law’s scope as including food retailers, food-processing companies, wholesalers and collective catering operators. Its page also said retailers with more than 400 square metres must offer donation agreements.
