Food safety bill would hurt the hungriest

A bill requiring labels on donated food would stifle gleaning groups, who gather fresh produce and donate it to food banks.|

Here’s a story from the unintended consequences file. A bill is making its way through the legislature in Sacramento that aims to make food safer, but at the same time it would make it more difficult to get healthy fruits and vegetables onto the plates of hungry families across the state.

If passed and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 234 would add severe restrictions on produce that is donated to food pantries from small farms and gleaners. Gleaning groups, like Petaluma Bounty, gather fruits and vegetables from individual growers, neighborhood gardens and other community sources, and provide the food to organizations that feed the needy. Much of this food is surplus and would otherwise end up rotting on the tree or in a dumpster.

The bill would require that all donated food be inspected and come with a label, allowing the produce to be traced back to the grower. The intent is to make the donated food safer and apply the same standards as those put on commercial growers who sell produce at grocery stores.

The unintended consequence of this bill, however, is that it will make gleaning operations too costly and challenging to be effective. How long would it take a food inspector, for example, to examine every backyard apple tree in Petaluma?

The unfortunate result will be that needy families and low-income seniors will receive less fresh food. Since low-income individuals already have poor access to healthy food and higher rates of nutritional deficiency, we should be working to remove barriers to donating fresh fruits and vegetables to food banks, not adding to them.

While food safety is important, we are not aware of a public health crisis that has resulted from uninspected donated food. Instead of letting all of that nutritious produce go to waste, as would happen under AB 234, a compromise would be to provide for informed consent for those receiving the donated food. A food bank could be required to acknowledge that it is accepting food that is uninspected and unlabeled. Then it would be up to the consumer to decide whether to bite into that apple without a certified sticker on it.

AB 234 has cleared a key state Senate committee and will soon be considered by the full chamber. We urge Sen. Lois Wolk, our elected representative, to ask for a pause in the debate to reconsider these unintended consequences and come back with new language that doesn’t put gleaning programs at risk.

Groups like Petaluma Bounty, that turn what would be food waste into healthy, nutritious meals for low-income people, should be supported, not hindered. It doesn’t take a genius to glean that.

If passed and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 234 would add severe restrictions on produce that is donated to food pantries from small farms and gleaners.

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