The Italian Senate passed a law that makes it easier for farmers and processors to donate food to charities and encourages restaurants to send food home with diners in doggy bags, says The Guardian. A sponsor says 1 million tonnes of food per year, or one-fifth of annual wastage, will be saved by the bill, which comes six years after France passed similar legislation.
While France penalizes grocers who don’t follow the rules, Italy “focused on incentives to make it easier for companies to change their behavior,” says the Guardian. For example, companies can donate mislabeled food if there is no safety risk and retailers can donate food after its sell-by date.
“But the move to encourage Italians to use doggy bags to take leftovers home from restaurants is perhaps one of the biggest cultural changes envisioned by the law,” said the newspaper. Almost no one asks for a doggy bag now. Environment Undersecretary Barbara Degani said last year that adoption of the term “family bag” was an upgrade from “doggy bag” and would make it more acceptable to take home uneaten food from the restaurant.