The doggy bag – the lunch box with leftover food from the restaurant, in short – will soon become another habit in Spain. The bill for the Prevention of Losses and Food Waste, which was approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers for processing in Congress, provides that restaurants deliver to customers who request it the remains of food that they have not consumed in containers adequate and sustainable. It is just one of the measures provided for in the text, with a heavy punitive burden: up to half a million euros fine for those who repeatedly commit what are considered serious offenses.
The rule also provides sanctions for supermarkets and restaurant establishments that do not implement a plan to reuse food that cannot be put up for sale when it is at or after its expiration date, but has not yet passed. your best before date. Not having this plan or not applying it will be sanctioned with up to 60,000 euros.
“The recipients of the law are all the elements of the food chain. It is a regulatory and awareness-raising standard, not an interventionist one. It imposes obligations, but above all it wants to raise awareness”, said the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, in the appearance of the Government after the Council.
The main objective of the new law is to reuse food that cannot be marketed or served in the hotel industry for human food consumption. For this, establishments selling food products with more than 1,300 m2 and restaurant premises must have an agreement with a food bank or a recognized NGO for the practice of this type of donations or have their own specific project. to give them output according to the legal text.
Likewise, these businesses will be able to sell food that is about to reach its expiration date at a discount and have sales lines for “ugly, imperfect or unattractive” products.
The Government’s objective, as Planas himself explained, is to reach the year 2030 with at least 50% less of this waste, 40% of which occurs in the final sale and in homes. In 2020, wasted food reached 1,364 million kilos in Spain, an average of 31 kilos per person.
