Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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146. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider legislation, similar to that recently passed in France, which would make supermarkets give unsold produce to the poor and homeless; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29478/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Retail legislation on the lines proposed does not come within the remit of my Department. However, I am aware of successful voluntary initiatives.  BiaFood and FoodCloud are working with large retail outlets to offer edible food to charities in a safe, efficient and responsive way.  I have visited the BiaFoodInitiative regional hub in Little Island, Cork, the first of three planned hubs. This has an infrastructure to receive and redistribute large volumes of surplus food to an industry standard, software technology to track and trace all product movements from point of entry to end user, and is a strong voluntary model. Tesco is providing them with equipment and some other support.  The Department of Social Protection is supporting staffing of the hub and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has provided advice on carrying out the business in a safe way in compliance with the food regulations, as such organisations come under the definition of a food business in general food law.  In March BiaFoodInitiative joined Bord Bia's online Origin Green Platform, which provides access to a network of over 400 companies, who could include this as a waste reduction measure in their Origin Green action plans.

FoodCloud connects businesses that have too much food to charities in communities that have too little. Using the FoodCloud app, or the website, participating businesses can upload details of their surplus food and the time period in which the food can be collected.  This automatically sends a text message to the most appropriate charities in their community.  The first charity to accept the offer collects it directly from the business.  By donating surplus food to various charities, businesses can assist them in reducing their food costs and therefore allow them to redirect funding to programs assisting those who are disadvantaged, creating tangible and long lasting local benefits.  Following a successful pilot programme, Tesco Ireland and FoodCloud last year announced a partnership that will see all surplus food from Tesco’s stores redistributed to charities and community groups through the use of FoodCloud’s innovative app.

There is much to be said for promoting voluntary engagement by the industry with such initiatives before consideration by Government on whether legislation is appropriate.