The Law on the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste, currently under Senate consideration, is expected to come into effect in the first quarter of the year, if forecasts are met.
This Law, the draft of which was approved in January 2024, aims to “prevent and reduce food loss and waste by all actors in the food chain; establish a hierarchy of priorities; facilitate food donation and contribute to meeting the food needs of the most vulnerable population; with the general aim of achieving more sustainable production and consumption; and to raise awareness, educate and mobilize all actors in the chain in proper food management, without prejudice to the necessary food safety guarantees,” as stated in its first chapter.
The chain described in the regulation includes the activities of food production, processing, or distribution agents, as well as hospitality, catering, and other entities and associations involved in food distribution for donation and public administration. As part of the food chain, both restaurants, bars, cafes and similar hospitality establishments, as well as the Food and Beverage departments of hotels and chains, will have to adapt to the Law.
Hospitality and hotel sectors will have to work to ensure efficient use of raw materials to help reduce waste in the kitchen, as well as to enhance the reduction of prepared food waste and practice food donation for human consumption, whenever possible, among other issues included in the regulation.
In this article, we explain how the new regulation will affect your hotel or chain and how you can adapt to the regulation in a simpler, more efficient and profitability-oriented way with Gstock.
Obligations for the Entire Food Chain
All actors in the food chain, including hotels and restaurants, will have to have a food waste prevention plan that allows identification of areas where food waste or loss is generated. The plan will have to function as an audit of production and operational processes. Once the points of loss are identified, solutions will have to be provided to avoid penalties.
The Law establishes the hierarchy of priorities in the use of food surplus, whether in the primary sector, hospitality, or any company that is part of the food chain:
- The first use is human consumption, either through donation, redistribution, or, in the case of hospitality, encouraging the customer to take away the food they have paid for but not consumed at the establishment.
- The second use is the transformation of products (through valorization in the primary sector and using potential waste as an ingredient for new recipes in the case of hospitality).
- Finally, the regulation contemplates the use of the surplus (especially when we talk about the primary sector) that cannot be used otherwise, for feed, compost, and other types of animal feed.
