Law No 166/2016: first year results

An increase of 20% in recovered surplus food and new innovative partnerships: Costa Cruises and KFC

On 14 September 2017 Law No 166/2016 – Provisions concerning the donation and distribution of food and pharmaceutical products for purposes of social solidarity and to limit waste celebrated its first anniversary.

In our country there has been a long tradition of recovery and redistribution of surplus food for social purpose and many associations have been engaged in this activity for decades. However, since its entry into force this law has facilitating the process of surplus food recovery and therefore Banco Alimentare reports an increase of 20% increase in recovered surplus food from large.

The law establishes a homogeneous framework of rules and allows to experience unexplored frontiers both in terms of type of products – non-perishable, fresh, and frozen food products and also ready meals – and in terms of new processes: the recovery of confiscated fish, the donation of cooked meals from cruise ships, the recovery from the banqueting sector, and much more.

For instance, Costa Cruises and Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus decided to join forces against food waste.

The pilot project, launched officially on board the Costa Diadema on 22 July, is based initially in Savona and it is the result of a multi-stakeholder approach with the involvement of the Savona Customs Office as well as the local Border Control Public Health & Safety Agency. Specifically, the project will concentrate on “ready to eat” food, i.e. items prepared for the day’s buffet but not served to guests. They will be placed in special aluminum containers labeled to ensure that they can be traced, and then stored in the walk-in refrigerators on board. The next day, when the ship docks in the Port of Savona, the containers will be unloaded and delivered to Banco Alimentare volunteers, who will take them to the nearby town of Varazze, to Fondazione L'Ancora, which runs a shelter that is home to 20 children and also provides meals to over 280 people in need, including refugees. 

It is planned to expand the scale of operations and extend the project to other Mediterranean ports. 
The kick-off event on 22 July in Savona was attended by Italian Deputy Maria Chiara Gadda, who promoted and drafted Law No 166/2016 encouraging the donation of surplus food, and by Senator Andrea Olivero, Italian Deputy Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies.

Watch the video here.

On 20 October in Milan KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken presented the Harvest programme to recover surplus food and donate it to charibale organizations that assist people in need on the territory.

KFC is the first fast food company in Italy to undertake such an initiative, which falls within the scope of Law No 166/2016 and is implemented in partnership with Banco Alimentare.

“The Harvest project allows us to recover the surplus fried chicken and donate it to those who need it. We are proud to collaborate with such an influential partner as Banco Alimentare, which gives us the possibility to reach many local charitable organizations - Corrado Cagnola, CEO of KFC Italia, said - We hope that our fried chicken not only will feed people in need with a tasteful and nutritious food but it will also give them a feeling of joy as it is in the spirit of our brand and our product”.

Watch the video here.