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To avoid physical damage, physical/biochemical change owing to stress of live fish during harvesting, the Code recommends that:

• Appropriate harvesting techniques should be applied to minimize physical damage and stress.
• Live fish should not be subjected to extremes of heat or cold or sudden variations in temperature and salinity.
• Fish should be free from excessive mud and weed soon after being harvested by washing with clean seawater or freshwater under suitable pressure.
• Fish should be purged, where necessary, to reduce gut contents and pollution of fish during further processing.
• Harvesting should be rapid so that fish are not exposed unduly to high temperatures.
• All equipment and holding facilities should be easy to clean and to disinfect and should be cleaned and disinfected regularly and as appropriate.

Guidelines are also included on holding and transportation, storage and transportation of live fish, live fish stored and transported at ambient temperature and live fish stored and transported at low temperatures.

The European Union has one of the largest markets for fish in the world. Producers involved in supplying this market, regardless of whether they are within the EU or outside it, are obliged to abide by two key pieces of food safety legislation that relate to harvesting and handling practices which promote a reduction in food loss and waste (FLW):

• Regulation (EC) No 853 / 2004 (Annex III) on specific hygiene rules for animal products
• Regulation (EC) No 852 / 2004 (Annex I) on the hygiene of foodstuffs

These regulations have been used to influence the national legislation in many countries, particularly those exporting fish to the EU market.

EU Regulation 178/2002 (Sections 17 and 19) requires retailers to act responsibly and take unsafe products off the market. Retailer and redistributors (e.g. food banks) must be able to show from where they received their products. Documentation is mandatory for traceability throughout the supply chain (EU Regulation 178/2002, Sections 3 and 18). 

Legislation itself also has an impact on food redistribution. The redistribution of surplus food for charitable purposes is an established practice in European retail. For instance, in France, retail stores with 400 square meters and above are required to provide surplus food to educational or charitable institutions. However, in countries such as the UK, regulations impede redistribution since retailers fear litigation.

Certification is an important aspect of retail. Many retailers require suppliers to be certified according to national and/or global standards which promote food safety and practices which maintain or ensure quality and hence control FLW. 

Although these standards exist, they can still lead to FLW. Quality standards that are too narrow or high may lead to product being rejected by the retailer; for example, if there is a visual impairment such as unusual colour or misshapen. Another practice to reduce food waste applied by some European retailers therefore is to lower quality standards for fresh produce. In this context, the term lowering quality standards refers to selling product with visual impairments that have no effect on food safety or taste.

Other examples of legislation which influence FLW decision making by retailers includes:

The EU Animal By-Products Regulation (ABPR) (1774/2002)

• This regulates the processing and disposal of products derived from animals and prevent material from animals not fit for human consumption from entering the feed chain. ABPR prohibits the disposal of uncooked or untreated fish products to landfill, and retailers have therefore have had to adopt methods which are ABPR compliant such as rendering, with material also used in production of pet food. Rendering will generate protein meal and an oil component both of which may be used in a range of applications.

The US “Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996”

• This legislation was brought in to encourage the donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to individuals in need. The updated 2017 bill: 
  • Improves federal oversight of liability protections for food donation under the Emerson Act by delegating authority of the Act to the U.S. Department of Agriculture; 
  • Expands liability protections to food donations sold at a reduced price; 
  • Expands liability protections to include food service establishments, retailers, educational institutions, restaurants, wholesalers, and farmers that donate food directly to individuals. 
  • Currently, protections only cover donations made to non-profits for ultimate distribution to those in need; 
  • Extends liability protections to explicitly cover past-date foods; 
  • Expands liability protections to mislabelled food if the mislabelling does not relate to food safety.

French Legislation on Food Waste

• In February 2016, France passed legislation and forced their supermarkets to quit wasting food. Instead of throwing food away that’s approaching or just past the “sell by” dates, they needed to donate them to charity. Food banks now have the benefit of expanding their capacity to hold more donated foods from these supermarkets.