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Examples of legislation which influences food loss and waste (FLW) decision making by retailers includes: 

The EU Animal By-Products Regulation (ABPR) (1774/2002) regulates the processing and disposal of products derived from animals and prevents 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 “Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996” in the US 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 
• Extends liability protections to explicitly cover past-date foods; 
• Expands liability protections to mislabelled food as long as the mislabelling does not relate to food safety. 
• Currently, protections only cover donations made to non-profits for ultimate distribution to those in need

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.