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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5146
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1201
Referred to Committee on GENERAL LAW
Introduced by:
(GL)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A SUPERMARKET FOOD DONATION
PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2022) (a) For the purposes of this 1
section and section 2 of this act: 2
(1) "Canned food" means any food that has been commercially 3
processed, prepared and hermetically sealed for human consumption, 4
including, but not limited to, a canned or preserved fruit or vegetable; 5
(2) "Food bank" means a public or private entity that, on a nonprofit 6
basis and in the ordinary course of such entity's business or operations, 7
provides nutritional assistance to individuals in this state who are in 8
need of such assistance, free of charge; 9
(3) "Perishable food" means any food, including, but not limited to, a 10
fresh, frozen or refrigerated bakery product, dairy product, fruit, meat, 11
seafood or vegetable, that may spoil or otherwise become unfit for 12
human consumption because of its nature, physical condition or type; 13 Raised Bill No. 5146
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(4) "Supermarket" has the same meaning as provided in section 31-14 14
of the general statutes; and 15
(5) "Supermarket food donation program" or "program" means the 16
program established in subsection (b) of this section. 17
(b) There is established a supermarket food donation program, which 18
the Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall administer and 19
implement within available appropriations. The program shall require 20
supermarkets located in this state to periodically make excess edible 21
canned foods and perishable foods available to food banks, and the 22
purposes of such program shall be to: 23
(1) Alleviate hunger among individuals in this state who are in need 24
of nutritional assistance; 25
(2) Support the operations of food banks; and 26
(3) Reduce food waste in this state. 27
(c) (1) No supermarket located in this state shall be required, as part 28
of the program, to: 29
(A) Make a particular quantity of excess edible canned foods and 30
perishable foods available to food banks; or 31
(B) Transport or distribute any excess edible canned food or 32
perishable food to a food bank. 33
(2) A supermarket may dispose of any excess edible canned food or 34
perishable food, in a manner that is consistent with all applicable law, 35
if: 36
(A) Such canned food or perishable food satisfies the criteria 37
established in subsection (d) of this section; or 38
(B) The supermarket makes a reasonable effort to arrange for a food 39
bank to collect such canned food or perishable food, and the food bank 40
fails to collect such canned food or perishable food within a reasonable 41 Raised Bill No. 5146
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time period. 42
(3) A supermarket may impose reasonable restrictions as to the time 43
and manner in which a food bank may collect excess edible canned food 44
and perishable food from the supermarket as part of the program so as 45
to not disrupt the supermarket's normal business operations. 46
(d) No supermarket located in this state shall make available, and no 47
food bank shall donate, any excess edible canned food or perishable 48
food as part of the program if: 49
(1) The Department of Public Health or a local director of health, or 50
an authorized agent thereof, has embargoed or ordered destroyed such 51
canned food or perishable food; 52
(2) The Department of Consumer Protection, or its authorized agent, 53
has deemed such canned food or perishable food adulterated, as 54
described in section 21a-101 of the general statutes; or 55
(3) Such canned food or perishable food is unfit for human 56
consumption. 57
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any state 58
or federal law concerning food safety or the disposal or handling of any 59
canned food or perishable food. 60
(f) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall adopt 61
regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the 62
general statutes, to implement the provisions of this section. 63
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2022) (a) For the purposes of this 64
section, "canned food", "food bank", "perishable food", "supermarket" 65
and "supermarket food donation program" have the same meanings as 66
provided in section 1 of this act. 67
(b) An insurer that delivers, issues for delivery, renews, amends or 68
continues in this state a commercial risk insurance policy or rider to such 69
policy which provides coverage for the spoilage of canned food or 70 Raised Bill No. 5146
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perishable food shall provide coverage to the same extent for canned 71
food and perishable food that is made available by a supermarket or 72
donated by a food bank as part of the supermarket food donation 73
program. 74
(c) To the extent a tax deduction or tax credit is allowed under any 75
provision of the general statutes for a donation made as part of the 76
supermarket food donation program, no supermarket that makes 77
available to a food bank any canned food or perishable food as part of 78
such program and receives payment from an insurer for such canned 79
food or perishable food shall avail itself of a tax deduction or tax credit 80
for the amount of such payment. 81
Sec. 3. Section 52-557l of the general statutes is repealed and the 82
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2022): 83
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any 84
person, including but not limited to a seller, farmer, processor, 85
distributor, wholesaler or retailer of food, who donates an item of food 86
for use or distribution by a nonprofit organization, nonprofit 87
corporation, political subdivision of the state or senior center, and any 88
nonprofit organization or nonprofit corporation that collects donated 89
food and distributes such food to other nonprofit organizations or 90
nonprofit corporations or a political subdivision of the state or senior 91
center free of charge or for a nominal fee, shall not be liable for civil 92
damages or criminal penalties resulting from the nature, age, condition 93
or packaging of the food, unless it is established that the donor, at the 94
time of making the donation, or the nonprofit organization or nonprofit 95
corporation, at the time of distributing the food, knew or had reasonable 96
grounds to believe that the food was (1) adulterated, as [defined] 97
described in section 21a-101, or (2) not fit for human consumption. 98
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any food 99
establishment classified as a class 3 or class 4 food establishment 100
pursuant to regulations adopted under section 19a-36h, that donates 101
perishable food for use or distribution by a temporary emergency 102 Raised Bill No. 5146
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shelter in accordance with the provisions set forth in section 38a-313b 103
shall not be liable for civil damages or criminal penalties resulting from 104
the nature, age, condition or packaging of the food, unless it is 105
established that the donor, at the time of making the donation, knew or 106
had reasonable grounds to believe that the food was (1) embargoed or 107
ordered destroyed by the Department of Public Health or a local 108
director of health, or an authorized agent thereof, (2) adulterated, as 109
[defined] described in section 21a-101, or (3) not fit for human 110
consumption. 111
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any 112
supermarket that makes available to a food bank any canned food or 113
perishable food as part of the supermarket food donation program 114
established pursuant to section 1 of this act, and any food bank that 115
donates such food to individuals in this state as part of such program, 116
shall not be liable for civil damages or criminal penalties resulting from 117
the nature, age, condition or packaging of such canned food or 118
perishable food, unless it is established that such supermarket or food 119
bank, at the time such supermarket made available to a food bank such 120
canned food or perishable food, or such food bank at the time such food 121
bank donated to an individual in this state such canned food or 122
perishable food, knew or had reasonable grounds to believe that such 123
canned food or perishable food was (1) embargoed or ordered destroyed 124
by the Department of Public Health or a local director of health, or an 125
authorized agent thereof, (2) adulterated, as described in section 21a-126
101, or (3) not fit for human consumption. 127
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2022 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2022 New section
Sec. 3 October 1, 2022 52-557l
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a supermarket food donation program to: (1) Alleviate
hunger among individuals in this state who are in need of nutritional Raised Bill No. 5146
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assistance; (2) support the operations of food banks; and (3) reduce food
waste in this state.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]