Overview of the current legislation concerning food donations in EU Member States

Food loss presentes great loss on many levels: environmental (pollution, CO2 emissions), economic (money loss) as well as social (hunger and poverty). In order to tackle these issues, European Union framed a legislative framework that refers to all Member States, depending on their specific context.

Below you can find the overview of the key EU legislation affecting food donations in Member States.

1. The General Food Law: Regulation (EC) No 178/2002:

• lays down the general principles and requirements of food law

• establishes the European Food Safety Authority

• provides a framework to ensure a coherent approach in the development of food legislation across the EU.

2. The Food Hygiene Package:

• Regulation (EC) No 852/20044 on the hygiene of foodstuffs

• Regulation (EC) No 853/20045 lays down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origins

• Regulation (EC) No 854/20046 lays down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption

• Directive 2004/41/EC7 repeals certain directives concerning food hygiene and health conditions for the production and placing on the market of certain products of animal origin intended for human consumption.

3. Tax legislation: Council Directive 2006/112/EC10

4. The Waste Framework Directive: Directive 2008/98/EC12

You can find out more about this topic here and download educational material regarding this topic.

Author: The Croatian Institute for CSR

Foto: eu-refresh.org