Support the Good Samaritan Act for Food Donation

A bill to diminish liability and encourage food donations from produce/ hospitality businesses large and small.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN ACT (variations of which are currently in effect in other countries around the world) protects the donor against liability except in cases of 'gross negligence or intentional misconduct'. So there is no excuse not to donate.

There is no Good Samaritan act in South Africa. There are NGOs that encourage individual food donation - but businesses are too scared (understandably so)/ discouraged by the possibility of a massive lawsuit.

The Act provides protection for food and grocery products that meet all quality and labeling standards imposed by local laws and regulations even though the food may not be "readily marketable due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus or other conditions." It would have established procedures to ensure that safe food handling and storage is built into the donation program.

Stores are constantly overstocking and there is an absurd wastage problem evident when seeing production vs consumption stats. This is senseless when there are shelters, schools, NGO programmes and underprivileged communities that could benefit greatly from this.