To save more people from hunger this new year, the chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday urged the leadership of the 18th Congress to immediately pass the House Bill 3370, or the proposed Food Waste Reduction Act when session resumes on January 20.
Rep. Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA Party-list said the proposal aims to reduce the country’s food waste through donations and waste recycling.
Citing figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Garin said a Filipino household wastes 1.676 kilograms of rice annually. This amount of food waste represents a total of 38.507 million kg valued at P1.617 billion.
“There is a need to address our country’s lack of system when it comes to addressing food waste. For instance, food items continue to end up in dump sites instead of being repurposed as livestock feed which can help our farmers,” Garin said.
The Special Food Committee on Food Security held its first meeting on bills related to Food Waste Reduction last December 2019.
“We remain optimistic that provisions that can help bolster economic growth can still be added to this bill,” she added.
Last Congress, the lower chamber already approved on third and final reading the proposed Food Waste Reduction Act, seeking to reduce food waste through food donations and food waste recycling.
Moreover, Garin, also citing 2019 State of Food and Agriculture Report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), noted how food-waste reduction can spur economic growth and improve agricultural production.
However, she said the report also admits that it will come with a cost.
Globally, FAO said around 14 percent of the world’s food is lost after harvesting and before reaching the retail level. With this, FAO encouraged countries to step up efforts to tackle the root and causes of food loss and waste at all stages, and provide guidance on policy and interventions to reduce food loss and waste.
PPP
For this to be realized, Garin said the pivotal role of public-private partnership investments are needed.
“The role of Congress now is to create an environment for private actors that will encourage them to invest in the effective implementation of food-waste management and reduction,” he said.
House Bill 3370 calls for the mandatory donation of edible food surplus for charitable purposes and the creation of food banks.
Upon its enactment, owners of covered establishments, such as restaurants, cafés, diners, fast-food chains, or hotels; supermarkets with at least 500 square meters of selling space; and culinary schools will be required to segregate their edible and inedible food surplus.
The bill said the food surplus shall then undergo inspection of the LGU based on the standards to be set by the National Nutrition Council and Food and Drug Administration. Only upon the certification of edible food surplus can it be donated to accredited food banks and distributed among food-insecure Filipinos.
In addition to these, the bill also seeks to create a system that will effectively address the problem of food wastage in the country through a proposed education-information-communication campaign, with a comprehensive, multisectoral approach.
The bill is in line with No. 2 and 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims to eliminate hunger and foster responsible consumption and production, respectively.