French law against food waste

Following a parliamentary report he drafted one year earlier, MP Guillaume Garot drafted a national law to address food waste following this hierarchy: i) preventing food waste, ii) using unsold but edible food products for donation or processing; iii) valorising for animal feed; iv) recycling for waste composting or anaerobic digestion.
A prior National Pact for the Fight Against Food Waste had made it possible to recognize the magnitude of this subject in the French society. Engagement of non-profit making organization, charities, food banks, food businesses, mayors and citizens against food waste is real and significant but a majority of them told the rapporteur “we can do much more better”.
Because fight against food waste cannot be achieved only through volunteering and good will, a national law has been proposed to amplify, coordinate and make more effective this challenge.
The main measure from the Parliamentary report that went through the law is make edible food destruction illegal for food stores above 400 m2 (bleaching edible unsold food), otherwise, retailers may receive a fine. Other measures of the law include: i) awareness and training of all stakeholders, including through waste prevention local schemes; ii) contractual regulation cannot prevent food donation from retailers to charities and such donation are encouraged by formal contracts and arrangements.
The bill has been passed by the Parliament in 2016.