Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB835 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 835
5	5	To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a voluntary
6	6	program to reduce food loss and waste, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	MARCH4, 2025
9	9	Mr. D
10	10	URBIN(for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
12	12	trition, and Forestry
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to estab-
15	15	lish a voluntary program to reduce food loss and waste,
16	16	and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reduce Food Loss and 4
21	21	Waste Act of 2025’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. FOOD LOSS AND WASTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM. 6
23	23	Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 7
24	24	(7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8
25	25	the following: 9
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29	29	‘‘SEC. 210B. FOOD LOSS AND WASTE CERTIFICATION PRO-1
30	30	GRAM. 2
31	31	‘‘(a) D
32	32	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
33	33	‘‘(1) A
34	34	PPARENTLY WHOLESOME FOOD .—The 4
35	35	term ‘apparently wholesome food’ has the meaning 5
36	36	given the term in subsection (b) of the Bill Emerson 6
37	37	Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 7
38	38	1791(b)). 8
39	39	‘‘(2) C
40	40	ERTIFIED PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘cer-9
41	41	tified participant’ means an eligible participant that 10
42	42	has been certified under subsection (d). 11
43	43	‘‘(3) E
44	44	LIGIBLE PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘eligi-12
45	45	ble participant’ means— 13
46	46	‘‘(A) a contractor that has entered into a 14
47	47	contract with an executive agency, the Senate, 15
48	48	or the House of Representatives for the provi-16
49	49	sion, service, or sale of food in the United 17
50	50	States; 18
51	51	‘‘(B) a State, local, municipal, or Tribal 19
52	52	government; 20
53	53	‘‘(C) a corporation, partnership, organiza-21
54	54	tion, or association; 22
55	55	‘‘(D) a farm or a food producer, manufac-23
56	56	turer, processor, holder, or packer; 24
57	57	‘‘(E) a retail grocer; 25
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61	61	‘‘(F) a restaurant or similar food service 1
62	62	establishment; 2
63	63	‘‘(G) an institution of higher education or 3
64	64	a consortium of those institutions; or 4
65	65	‘‘(H) a primary or secondary school or a 5
66	66	consortium of those institutions. 6
67	67	‘‘(4) E
68	68	XCESS.—The term ‘excess’, with respect 7
69	69	to food, means that the food would otherwise be dis-8
70	70	carded. 9
71	71	‘‘(5) F
72	72	OOD.—The term ‘food’ means food (as 10
73	73	defined in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, 11
74	74	and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321)) that is intended 12
75	75	for human consumption. 13
76	76	‘‘(6) P
77	77	ROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means 14
78	78	the Food Loss and Waste Reduction Certification 15
79	79	Program established under subsection (b). 16
80	80	‘‘(7) S
81	81	ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 17
82	82	the Secretary of Agriculture. 18
83	83	‘‘(b) E
84	84	STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-19
85	85	lish a voluntary program, to be known as the ‘Food Loss 20
86	86	and Waste Reduction Certification Program’— 21
87	87	‘‘(1) to certify eligible participants in accord-22
88	88	ance with subsection (d); and 23
89	89	‘‘(2) to promote certified participants in accord-24
90	90	ance with subsection (e). 25
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94	94	‘‘(c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the program are— 1
95	95	‘‘(1) to reduce food loss and waste; 2
96	96	‘‘(2) to increase donations of excess, apparently 3
97	97	wholesome food to nonprofit organizations that pro-4
98	98	vide food assistance to individuals in need; and 5
99	99	‘‘(3) to increase the use of alternative disposal 6
100	100	methods for food, such as redirection to animal feed, 7
101	101	anaerobic digestion, and composting. 8
102	102	‘‘(d) C
103	103	ERTIFICATION.— 9
104	104	‘‘(1) C
105	105	RITERIA.— 10
106	106	‘‘(A) I
107	107	N GENERAL.— 11
108	108	‘‘(i) E
109	109	STABLISHMENT AND PUBLICA -12
110	110	TION.—Not later than 18 months after the 13
111	111	date of enactment of the Reduce Food 14
112	112	Loss and Waste Act of 2025, the Secretary 15
113	113	shall establish and publish in the Federal 16
114	114	Register criteria for the certification of an 17
115	115	eligible participant under the program. 18
116	116	‘‘(ii) I
117	117	NCLUSIONS.—Criteria described 19
118	118	in clause (i) shall include the submission to 20
119	119	a third-party certifier accredited under 21
120	120	paragraph (3) of documentation from 12 22
121	121	consecutive months on the quantity of food 23
122	122	that the eligible participant— 24
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126	126	‘‘(I) has donated to nonprofit or-1
127	127	ganizations that provide food assist-2
128	128	ance for individuals in need; or 3
129	129	‘‘(II) has sent to be disposed of. 4
130	130	‘‘(B) S
131	131	TAKEHOLDER INPUT .—The Sec-5
132	132	retary shall solicit comments from interested 6
133	133	parties prior to the establishment or revision of 7
134	134	the criteria described in subparagraph (A). 8
135	135	‘‘(C) R
136	136	EVISIONS.— 9
137	137	‘‘(i) I
138	138	N GENERAL.—The Secretary 10
139	139	shall revise the criteria described in sub-11
140	140	paragraph (A) on a periodic basis. 12
141	141	‘‘(ii) P
142	142	UBLICATION.—The Secretary 13
143	143	shall publish in the Federal Register cri-14
144	144	teria revised under clause (i) not later than 15
145	145	270 days before the effective date of the 16
146	146	revised criteria, including an explanation of 17
147	147	the revisions. 18
148	148	‘‘(2) A
149	149	CCREDITATION BODIES.— 19
150	150	‘‘(A) I
151	151	N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 20
152	152	months after the date of enactment of the Re-21
153	153	duce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025, the 22
154	154	Secretary shall establish a process to recognize 23
155	155	accreditation bodies to accredit third-party cer-24
156	156	tifiers under paragraph (3)(A). 25
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160	160	‘‘(B) STANDARDS.—The Secretary shall 1
161	161	recognize an accreditation body under subpara-2
162	162	graph (A) if the accreditation body meets such 3
163	163	standards as the Secretary shall establish. 4
164	164	‘‘(3) T
165	165	HIRD-PARTY CERTIFIERS.— 5
166	166	‘‘(A) I
167	167	N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 6
168	168	months after the date of enactment of the Re-7
169	169	duce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025, the 8
170	170	Secretary shall establish a process for accredita-9
171	171	tion bodies recognized under paragraph (2) to 10
172	172	accredit third-party certifiers to review and cer-11
173	173	tify eligible participants under the program. 12
174	174	‘‘(B) S
175	175	TANDARDS.—An accreditation body 13
176	176	recognized under paragraph (2) shall accredit a 14
177	177	third-party certifier under subparagraph (A) if 15
178	178	the third-party certifier meets such standards 16
179	179	as the Secretary shall establish. 17
180	180	‘‘(C) P
181	181	REFERENCE.—In accrediting third- 18
182	182	party certifiers under subparagraph (A), an ac-19
183	183	creditation body recognized under paragraph 20
184	184	(2) shall give preference to institutions of high-21
185	185	er education that have expertise in food loss 22
186	186	and waste reduction. 23
187	187	‘‘(D) C
188	188	ERTIFICATION.—A third-party cer-24
189	189	tifier accredited under subparagraph (A) shall 25
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193	193	review and certify an eligible participant under 1
194	194	the program if the eligible participant meets the 2
195	195	criteria established under paragraph (1). 3
196	196	‘‘(4) P
197	197	UBLICATION.—The Secretary shall main-4
198	198	tain on a publicly available website of the Depart-5
199	199	ment of Agriculture— 6
200	200	‘‘(A) a list of accreditation bodies recog-7
201	201	nized under paragraph (2); and 8
202	202	‘‘(B) a list of third-party certifiers accred-9
203	203	ited under paragraph (3). 10
204	204	‘‘(e) P
205	205	ROMOTION.— 11
206	206	‘‘(1) I
207	207	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pro-12
208	208	mote a certified participant under the program, in-13
209	209	cluding through— 14
210	210	‘‘(A) voluntary labeling established under 15
211	211	paragraph (2); and 16
212	212	‘‘(B) such other communications as the 17
213	213	Secretary determines to be appropriate relating 18
214	214	to the products, buildings, practices, and poli-19
215	215	cies of the certified participant, such as— 20
216	216	‘‘(i) publication on the website of the 21
217	217	Department of Agriculture of information 22
218	218	relating to the certified participant; and 23
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222	222	‘‘(ii) holding events to promote the 1
223	223	certified participant or otherwise relating 2
224	224	to the program. 3
225	225	‘‘(2) V
226	226	OLUNTARY LABELING .—The Secretary 4
227	227	shall establish 1 or more voluntary labels that indi-5
228	228	cate that a certified participant is certified under the 6
229	229	program. 7
230	230	‘‘(f) I
231	231	NTERAGENCYCOORDINATION.—The Secretary 8
232	232	shall carry out this section in coordination with the Com-9
233	233	missioner of Food and Drugs and the Administrator of 10
234	234	the Environmental Protection Agency, in accordance with 11
235	235	the memorandum of understanding revised under section 12
236	236	3 of the Reduce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025. 13
237	237	‘‘(g) A
238	238	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 14
239	239	is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 15
240	240	including for the hiring of additional personnel, 16
241	241	$3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030, 17
242	242	to remain available until expended.’’. 18
243	243	SEC. 3. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. 19
244	244	The Secretary of Agriculture, the Commissioner of 20
245	245	Food and Drugs, and the Administrator of the Environ-21
246	246	mental Protection Agency shall revise, in accordance with 22
247	247	section 210B of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 23
248	248	(as added by section 2), the agreement signed on Decem-24
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252	252	ber 17, 2020, relating to cooperation and coordination on 1
253	253	food loss and waste. 2
254	254	Æ
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