Sara Gassman Food Recovery Network Food Waste
183 views · Published 28 January 2015 · 6:41 · Indexed 1 October 2026
Channel: USDA · 2015 · People & Blogs
Sara is Food Recovery Network’s Director of Member Support and Communications, providing resources and advice to official FRN chapters to ensure a strong, well-connected and well-publicized food recovery movement. In this presentation, Sara talks about how universities and colleges can work with the Food Recovery Network to start food recovery activities in their cafeterias. She also talks about their new “Food Recovery Certified,” their certification program to recognize and reward food businesses that give their surplus, unsold foods to local nonprofits serving hungry Americans rather than to landfills. Also, she talks about how other community organizations and companies can tap into their university networks to strengthen food waste reduction activities. The presentation was featured on the “Donating Unsold Food – A Primer on Liability, Food safety, and the Good Samaritan Act” webinar on November 12, 2014. To download the presentations and other materials, please visit: http://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/webinars.html Additional information: 14.3% of American households found it difficult to put food on the table at some time in 2013, yet 31% of food at the consumer and retail level goes uneaten (USDA ERS). Of the estimated 133 billion pounds of food that goes uneaten every year, much of it is perfectly safe and nutritious and could have been donated to hunger relief organizations to feed hungry people. Sadly, much of this perfectly good food ends up in landfills. How can we change this situation? Many managers at farms, food processors, supermarkets, dining facilities, and restaurants say they are worried about donating wholesome unsold food because of fear of liability. Some say they don’t have the proper food safety processes in place to handle food recovery and donation programs. The presentations from this webinar discuss liability concerns and clear up misconceptions that may keep companies from donating food. The webinar covers food safety issues and tips and the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, the federal statute that gives liability protection to those who donate food.
