II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 835
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a voluntary
program to reduce food loss and waste, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH4, 2025
Mr. D
URBIN(for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to estab-
lish a voluntary program to reduce food loss and waste,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reduce Food Loss and 4
Waste Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FOOD LOSS AND WASTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM. 6
Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 7
(7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8
the following: 9
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‘‘SEC. 210B. FOOD LOSS AND WASTE CERTIFICATION PRO-1
GRAM. 2
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
‘‘(1) A
PPARENTLY WHOLESOME FOOD .—The 4
term ‘apparently wholesome food’ has the meaning 5
given the term in subsection (b) of the Bill Emerson 6
Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 7
1791(b)). 8
‘‘(2) C
ERTIFIED PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘cer-9
tified participant’ means an eligible participant that 10
has been certified under subsection (d). 11
‘‘(3) E
LIGIBLE PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘eligi-12
ble participant’ means— 13
‘‘(A) a contractor that has entered into a 14
contract with an executive agency, the Senate, 15
or the House of Representatives for the provi-16
sion, service, or sale of food in the United 17
States; 18
‘‘(B) a State, local, municipal, or Tribal 19
government; 20
‘‘(C) a corporation, partnership, organiza-21
tion, or association; 22
‘‘(D) a farm or a food producer, manufac-23
turer, processor, holder, or packer; 24
‘‘(E) a retail grocer; 25
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‘‘(F) a restaurant or similar food service 1
establishment; 2
‘‘(G) an institution of higher education or 3
a consortium of those institutions; or 4
‘‘(H) a primary or secondary school or a 5
consortium of those institutions. 6
‘‘(4) E
XCESS.—The term ‘excess’, with respect 7
to food, means that the food would otherwise be dis-8
carded. 9
‘‘(5) F
OOD.—The term ‘food’ means food (as 10
defined in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, 11
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321)) that is intended 12
for human consumption. 13
‘‘(6) P
ROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means 14
the Food Loss and Waste Reduction Certification 15
Program established under subsection (b). 16
‘‘(7) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 17
the Secretary of Agriculture. 18
‘‘(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-19
lish a voluntary program, to be known as the ‘Food Loss 20
and Waste Reduction Certification Program’— 21
‘‘(1) to certify eligible participants in accord-22
ance with subsection (d); and 23
‘‘(2) to promote certified participants in accord-24
ance with subsection (e). 25
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‘‘(c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the program are— 1
‘‘(1) to reduce food loss and waste; 2
‘‘(2) to increase donations of excess, apparently 3
wholesome food to nonprofit organizations that pro-4
vide food assistance to individuals in need; and 5
‘‘(3) to increase the use of alternative disposal 6
methods for food, such as redirection to animal feed, 7
anaerobic digestion, and composting. 8
‘‘(d) C
ERTIFICATION.— 9
‘‘(1) C
RITERIA.— 10
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.— 11
‘‘(i) E
STABLISHMENT AND PUBLICA -12
TION.—Not later than 18 months after the 13
date of enactment of the Reduce Food 14
Loss and Waste Act of 2025, the Secretary 15
shall establish and publish in the Federal 16
Register criteria for the certification of an 17
eligible participant under the program. 18
‘‘(ii) I
NCLUSIONS.—Criteria described 19
in clause (i) shall include the submission to 20
a third-party certifier accredited under 21
paragraph (3) of documentation from 12 22
consecutive months on the quantity of food 23
that the eligible participant— 24
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‘‘(I) has donated to nonprofit or-1
ganizations that provide food assist-2
ance for individuals in need; or 3
‘‘(II) has sent to be disposed of. 4
‘‘(B) S
TAKEHOLDER INPUT .—The Sec-5
retary shall solicit comments from interested 6
parties prior to the establishment or revision of 7
the criteria described in subparagraph (A). 8
‘‘(C) R
EVISIONS.— 9
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary 10
shall revise the criteria described in sub-11
paragraph (A) on a periodic basis. 12
‘‘(ii) P
UBLICATION.—The Secretary 13
shall publish in the Federal Register cri-14
teria revised under clause (i) not later than 15
270 days before the effective date of the 16
revised criteria, including an explanation of 17
the revisions. 18
‘‘(2) A
CCREDITATION BODIES.— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 20
months after the date of enactment of the Re-21
duce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025, the 22
Secretary shall establish a process to recognize 23
accreditation bodies to accredit third-party cer-24
tifiers under paragraph (3)(A). 25
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‘‘(B) STANDARDS.—The Secretary shall 1
recognize an accreditation body under subpara-2
graph (A) if the accreditation body meets such 3
standards as the Secretary shall establish. 4
‘‘(3) T
HIRD-PARTY CERTIFIERS.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 6
months after the date of enactment of the Re-7
duce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025, the 8
Secretary shall establish a process for accredita-9
tion bodies recognized under paragraph (2) to 10
accredit third-party certifiers to review and cer-11
tify eligible participants under the program. 12
‘‘(B) S
TANDARDS.—An accreditation body 13
recognized under paragraph (2) shall accredit a 14
third-party certifier under subparagraph (A) if 15
the third-party certifier meets such standards 16
as the Secretary shall establish. 17
‘‘(C) P
REFERENCE.—In accrediting third- 18
party certifiers under subparagraph (A), an ac-19
creditation body recognized under paragraph 20
(2) shall give preference to institutions of high-21
er education that have expertise in food loss 22
and waste reduction. 23
‘‘(D) C
ERTIFICATION.—A third-party cer-24
tifier accredited under subparagraph (A) shall 25
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review and certify an eligible participant under 1
the program if the eligible participant meets the 2
criteria established under paragraph (1). 3
‘‘(4) P
UBLICATION.—The Secretary shall main-4
tain on a publicly available website of the Depart-5
ment of Agriculture— 6
‘‘(A) a list of accreditation bodies recog-7
nized under paragraph (2); and 8
‘‘(B) a list of third-party certifiers accred-9
ited under paragraph (3). 10
‘‘(e) P
ROMOTION.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pro-12
mote a certified participant under the program, in-13
cluding through— 14
‘‘(A) voluntary labeling established under 15
paragraph (2); and 16
‘‘(B) such other communications as the 17
Secretary determines to be appropriate relating 18
to the products, buildings, practices, and poli-19
cies of the certified participant, such as— 20
‘‘(i) publication on the website of the 21
Department of Agriculture of information 22
relating to the certified participant; and 23
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‘‘(ii) holding events to promote the 1
certified participant or otherwise relating 2
to the program. 3
‘‘(2) V
OLUNTARY LABELING .—The Secretary 4
shall establish 1 or more voluntary labels that indi-5
cate that a certified participant is certified under the 6
program. 7
‘‘(f) I
NTERAGENCYCOORDINATION.—The Secretary 8
shall carry out this section in coordination with the Com-9
missioner of Food and Drugs and the Administrator of 10
the Environmental Protection Agency, in accordance with 11
the memorandum of understanding revised under section 12
3 of the Reduce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025. 13
‘‘(g) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 14
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 15
including for the hiring of additional personnel, 16
$3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030, 17
to remain available until expended.’’. 18
SEC. 3. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. 19
The Secretary of Agriculture, the Commissioner of 20
Food and Drugs, and the Administrator of the Environ-21
mental Protection Agency shall revise, in accordance with 22
section 210B of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 23
(as added by section 2), the agreement signed on Decem-24
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ber 17, 2020, relating to cooperation and coordination on 1
food loss and waste. 2
Æ
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