The food waste law, introduced in 2016 in France, aims to reduce food waste in the country. It aims to reduce more than half of the food thrown away yearly. Previous laws stated that every product we buy in supermarkets needs to have an expiration date, but this doesn’t mean that the product is spoiled. The law now states that supermarkets are forbidden to waste food that is still good to eat even if it is close to the expiration date.

Most people buy way more food than they need, which leads to throwing away the extra food. “I waste a lot of food because I simply don’t have time to cook it,” said many people living in Paris. This is the case with many people in France, and it must happen in other countries, including Canada. A person throws away approximately 25 kilos of edible food in a year.

They took a lot of measures to make sure to waste the least food possible. They made a few applications, like Good To Go, for example. It shows if a restaurant, a bakery, or any other market that sells food has food left to give away at a lower price.  The “cheaper” food is food close to or past its expiration date but still good. The product may be less fresh, but it’s still good to eat and is more affordable for some. They also have a section at the grocery store made for food that would be thrown away but are still good to eat. They lower the price, giving more choices for people with less financial means.

France is not the only country wasting food. Canada is wasting more than 46% of its food, which could be used for people in need. In Quebec alone, we wasted 3.4 million tonnes of food in 2020.

Many families in difficulties or who are in a difficult financial situation could benefit from the food at a lower price. ” I save a lot of money, and I can use more money for my kids,” said a single mom. People could also save a lot of money if they made sure that the food they were buying was not going to the garbage.