Food Donation Basics
EPA's Wasted Food Scale
Donating food is in the second tier of EPA’s Wasted Food Scale. When wholesome food is rescued, redistributed, or donated, it nourishes people and keeps food from being wasted. EPA estimates that in 2019, the food retail, food service, and residential sectors generated about 66 million tons of wasted food in the United States. While Americans throw away millions of tons of food, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2022, 12.8 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during the year. This means that 44.2 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2022. In many cases, the food tossed into our nation’s landfills is wholesome, edible food. When food is wasted, all the resources that went into producing, processing, distributing, and preparing that food are wasted too.
Most food donations come from higher up the food supply chain, such as from farmers, food manufacturers, distributors, or retailers. But schools, community organizations, and individuals can also make a difference by collecting and donating unspoiled, healthy food or participating in local food rescue efforts. By donating food, we’re feeding people, not landfills, supporting local communities, and saving all the resources that went into producing that food, from going to waste.
Basics of Food Donation
Anyone Can Be a Food Donor
Large manufacturers, supermarket chains, wholesalers, farmers, food brokers, and organized community food drives typically give food to food banks. Restaurants, caterers, corporate dining rooms, hotels, and other food establishments promptly distribute perishable and prepared foods to people in their communities. Many food banks and food rescue organizations will pick up food donations free of charge, saving donors time and money.
Legal Basics
Certain donors are protected from liability under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (pdf) (207 KB). In January 2023, the Act was updated (pdf) (184 KB) to include protections for direct donations to individuals in need by qualified direct donors. Under this Act, as long as the donor has not acted with negligence or intentional misconduct, the donor is not liable for damage incurred as the result of illness. Protected donors include persons and gleaners, nonprofit organizations, qualified direct donors (including food retailers and wholesalers, restaurants, caterers, school food authorities, institutes of higher education, and agricultural producers, processors and distributors).
Learn More
USDA's Frequently Asked Questions about the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (pdf) (240 KB)
Global Food Donation Policy Atlas’ United States Legal Guide - Food Donation Law and Policy (pdf) (1.75 MB) provides information on the current state of food donation laws and policies in participating countries.
Safety Basics
Many non-perishable and unspoiled perishable foods can be donated to local food banks, soup kitchens, pantries, and shelters. In the 2022 Food Code, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration clarified for the first time that food donations from food retailers are acceptable as long as proper food safety practices are followed. Check with your local food bank or food rescue operation to find out what items they will accept.
Learn about Food Safety Basics or contact your state or local health department for information on how to safely donate food. More information on food safety can be found in Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic’s Food Safety Regulations & Guidance for Food Donations: A Fifty-State Survey of State Practices (pdf) (1.24 MB).
Tax Benefits
Companies access potential tax benefits when they donate food. Refer to the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic’s Federal Enhanced Tax Deduction for Food Donation, a Legal Guide (pdf) (16.4 MB) for information on enhanced tax deductions available to businesses donating food.
Donating Food
Where to Donate
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Food pantries, food banks and food rescue programs collect food and redistribute it to those in need across the country.
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Food banks are community-based, professional organizations that collect food from a variety of sources and save the food in warehouses. The food bank then distributes the food to families and individuals through a variety of emergency food assistance agencies, such as soup kitchens, youth or senior centers, shelters and pantries. Most food banks tend to collect nonperishable foods such as canned goods because they can be stored for a longer time.
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Food rescue organizations operate food rescue programming, which includes the retrieval of excess food from donors and/or the delivery of donated food directly to clients or to other organizations that redistribute food to clients. These organizations may also offer other programming, such as education/skills training and the repurposing of donated food into meals or other food products, etc., and many of them apply software solutions, like apps, to coordinate the redistribution of excess food by volunteers or other organizations.
Ideas for Increasing Food Donations in Your Community
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Leverage or establish relationships with food rescue organizations to donate food after events.
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Reach out to your local grocers, restaurants, venues and/or schools to suggest they donate wholesome food.
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Create a schedule for pick-up of donated food from your organization or business on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis.
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Become a volunteer for a food rescue organization to help transport food from donors to food recipient organizations.
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Are you a faith-based organization? Check out the Food Stewards Toolkit to learn about how your organization can reduce wasted food by modifying food purchases, donating, composting, getting others involved, and sharing your story.
Find Food Recipient Organizations
The following sites contain tools you can search for food banks, pantries, soup kitchens and shelters that may be interested in accepting wholesome, excess food:
- EPA’s Excess Food Opportunities Map contains nationwide data about food banks. Always check directly before donating.
- Feeding America’s Find Your Local Foodbank offers a map of Feeding America member food banks. Some of these food banks have minimum donation size requirements. Feeding America also operates the Meal Connect app, which connects donors to local food banks.
- Sustainable America’s Food Rescue Locator is a directory of organizations that rescue, glean, transport, prepare, and distribute food to their communities.
- AmpleHarvest.org allows you to search food pantries by ZIP code and shows the search results on an interactive map.
- Hunger Free America operates the USDA’s National Hunger Clearinghouse, where people can seek food assistance.
The following organizations are examples of food donation organizations that provide a mechanism for entities to donate wholesome, excess food:
- Food Recovery Network is a student-led organization and national network of college students, food businesses and non-profits whose goal is to combat wasted food and hunger. FRN chapters donate surplus food to food-insecure communities.
- Food Donation Connection provides an alternative to discarding surplus wholesome food by linking food service donors with surplus food to local hunger relief agencies.
- Rock and Wrap It Up! is an anti-poverty think tank. It partners with music, sports and TV/film production organizations, as well as hospitals, hotels and schools to donate food that is prepared, but not served or sold, to those in need across the United States and Canada.
- Food Rescue US is an organization that connects food donors with local social service agencies and food rescue volunteers using a smartphone app to facilitate the recovery and delivery of excess food.
Source of Statistics
- U.S. EPA, Food: Material-Specific Data.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Household Food Security in the United States 2021.