HB 938 — Reduce Food Waste in North Carolina.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA H.B.SESSION 2021 H 1 HOUSE BILL 938 Short Title:

938 May 11, 2021 SESSION 2021 HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK H D HOUSE BILL DRH10480-MHa-158 Short Title:

RepresentativeRepresentatives Hawkins.Hawkins, Ager, and Brown (Primary Sponsors).

For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.

Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House May 12, 2021 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS REGARDING FOOD WASTE IN NORTH CAROLINA BY DESIGNATING THE THIRD THURSDAY IN SEPTEMBER AS FOOD WASTE PREVENTION DAY, BY URGING FOOD RETAILERS IN THIS STATE TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE, BY ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN FOR FOOD WASTE, BY CREATING THE STATE FOOD WASTE TASK FORCE, AND BY APPROPRIATING FUNDS TO MAKE THE SAFE PLATES PREPARED FOOD WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAM ACCESSIBLE STATEWIDE.

FOOD*H938-v-1* WASTE PREVENTION DAY *DRH10480-MHa-158* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 FOOD WASTE PREVENTION DAY SECTION 1.

The third Thursday in September of each year is designated as Food Waste Prevention Day." 67 URGE LARGE FOOD RETAILERS IN THE STATE TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE SECTION 2.(a) The General Assembly finds the following:

(3) ModifyModifytraditional traditional store practices that increase waste and create new practices to reduce waste, such as lowering unreasonably high cosmetic standards for fruit and vegetables and ceasing to reject even marginally imperfect-looking food;

and finding new ways to display produce while Page 2 House Bill 938-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 reducing stock levels, thereby reducing labor and damage, and permitting produce to stay fresher for longer periods.

Page 2 DRH10480-MHa-158 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 (4) Team up with consumers to reduce food waste by providing free literature containing waste reduction tips and recipes to utilize leftovers, teaming up with chefs to demonstrate how to utilize leftover ingredients and food, and organizing "waste less" campaigns that use crowdsourcing and other social media initiatives to interact with consumers and gather ideas for food waste and hunger prevention.

8 PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN REGARDING FOOD WASTE SECTION 3.(a) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in consultation with Rise Against Hunger North Carolina, shall do all of the following:

The work undertaken by the task force shall supplement and be consistent with existing efforts and commitments to reduce food waste, including food donation efforts, composting efforts, date labeling efforts, and effective inventory management practices, which havebeen, or arebeing, undertakenundertakenat at thenational level pursuant to auniform, nationwidemodel.

House Bill 938-First Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 SECTION 4.(b) The task force shall consist of 14 members, including the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Secretary of DRH10480-MHa-158 Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 Environmental Quality, or their designees, who shall serve ex officio and 11 public members who shall be appointed as follows:

MembersoftheMembersoftheTask Task Forceshallreceivesubsistenceandtravelallowances attherates set forth in G.S.

The Task Force maymayalso also meet at various locations around the State in order to promote greater public participation in its deliberations.

SAFE PLATES FUNDS SECTION 5.(a) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year to be allocated to North Carolina State UniversityUniversityfor for the Safe Plates Program to develop standard operating procedures and recommend bestpractices withtrackingdocuments andresourcesforunservedpreparedfoodrecovery,which will be disseminated throughout the State through a series of virtual training sessions.

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