美国国家公共电台 NPR French Food Waste Law Changing How Grocery Stores Approach Excess Food

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SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

Food waste is a global problem. In developing countries, grocery stores are responsible for a lot of that waste. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports on how France is trying to change that.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking in French).

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE¹: Every morning at this Auchun supermarket in central Paris, Magdalena Dos Santos has a rendezvous² with Doudou, a driver from the French food bank. Dos Santos, who runs the deli section, is also in charge of supervising the store's food donations.

MAGDALENA DOS SANTOS: (Through interpreter) All of the freshly-prepared dishes that are one, two and three days from their expiration³ date - I set them aside for pickup⁴.

BEARDSLEY: Opening up in a giant fridge, Dos Santos shows what else the store is giving away - yogurt, pizza, fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese. But giving leftover⁵ food to charity is no longer just an act of goodwill⁶. It's a requirement under a 2016 law that bans grocery stores from throwing away edible⁷ food. Stores can also be fined $4,500 for each infraction⁸. Out back, on the store's loading dock, Doudou, whose full name is Ahmed Djerbrani, plunges⁹ a thermometer into a yogurt.

AHMED DJERBRANI: (Through interpreter) I take the temperature of a sample of dairy products to make sure they've been kept refrigerated.

BEARDSLEY: Djerbrani loads the food into his van and drives it across town to a church, which will distribute it to poor families. Gillaine Demeules is a volunteer with the St. Vincent de Paul charity.

GILLAINE DEMEULES: (Through interpreter) Tomorrow, we'll give people soup, sardines¹⁰, pasta and whatever fresh items they deliver us today, she says. We never know what they're going to bring.

BEARDSLEY: Five thousand charities across France depend on the food bank network, which gets nearly half of its donations from grocery stores. The new law has increased the quantity and quality of donations. There are more fresh foods and products farther away from their expiration date. Jacques Bailet is head of the French network of food banks. He says the law also did away with certain constraining¹¹ contracts between supermarkets and food manufacturers.

JACQUES BAILET: (Through interpreter) There was one food manufacturer that was not authorized¹² to donate the sandwiches it made for a particular supermarket brand, but now we get 30,000 sandwiches a month from them - sandwiches that used to be thrown away.

BEARDSLEY: Jonathan Bloom is the author of "American Wasteland," a book about food waste in the United States. He says he'd love to see the U.S. Congress pass a similar law, though he suspects America might need a slightly different approach.

JONATHAN BLOOM: The French version is quite socialist¹³, but I would say in a great way because you're providing a way where they have to do the beneficial thing, not only for the environment, but from an ethical¹⁴ standpoint of getting healthy food to those who need it and minimizing some of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions¹⁵ that come with food ends up in a landfill.

MCCAMMON: But the French law has actually encouraged the development of businesses that are helping¹⁶ grocery stores better manage their stocks and reduce their food waste.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Merci beaucoup de - thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking in French).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Speaking in French).

BEARDSLEY: Parliamentarian Guillaume Garot wrote the law. He believes the fight against food waste should be as important as other national causes. Garot says he's contacted by people all over the world who want to do the same thing.

GUILLAUME GAROT: (Speaking in French).

BAILET: "It's changed the supermarkets' practices," he says, "they're more attentive¹⁷ to their environment, and they give more." But most important, says Garot, is that a supermarket is now seen as more than just a profit center. It's a place where there has to be humanity.

BEARDSLEY: Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.