Food Service Groups Required To Donate Excess Food To Charity

Dumpster-divers beware! Your seemingly endless bounty of discarded goodies may be missing in the future. Based on a new rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation -- thankfully translated by the Federal Times -- food service contractors will be encouraged to donate food surplus to nonprofits that serve the hungry.

Specifically, here's how the regulation reads:

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have adopted, as final, with no changes, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-
247), which encourages executive agencies and their contractors, in contracts for the provision, service, or sale of food, to the maximum extent practicable and safe, to donate apparently wholesome excess food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to food-insecure
people in the United States.

While not a binding law, this rule highlights the issue we've all been reading about for months now: that Americans are suffering during the recession, and a growing number go hungry at some time during the year.

Will organizations like Feeding America and Project Angel Food see a boon in food donations from restaurants and caterers?