This week, the Council of Ministers approved the draft legislation for a second time in just over a year. The proposed law targets food loss and waste by mandating measures across the food supply chain and imposing penalties for the most serious violations. The regulations, unveiled after the cabinet meeting by the head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, prioritize supporting all entities involved in food chain processes. They aim to curb losses and ensure more efficient use of food, with fines up to five hundred thousand euros for egregious breaches.
Planas highlighted several encouraging findings. Since the pandemic, Spanish households have reduced food waste by 13.5 percent, and between 2021 and 2022 the decrease reached 6.1 percent according to the ministry’s latest data. Surveys indicate that almost one in three families, precisely 29 percent, report they no longer generate food waste or produce only very small amounts. He noted that this represents a 3 percent improvement over 2021.
The new law will require businesses that interact directly with consumers to establish partnerships with nonprofit organizations to donate surplus food. Planas reminded that companies with premises larger than 1,300 square meters must have such an agreement. Bars, restaurants, and taverns will be required to give customers the option to take home any leftover food or drink they have not consumed.
In Spain, annually 1,300 million liters and tons of food are lost, and the production of wasted food accounts for about 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The water footprint of food production across Europe is substantial, equivalent to about 250 cubic kilometers of water lost and wasted. In Catalonia, for example, drought effects are particularly acute, affecting major reservoirs such as Sau, which could be filled more than 1,500 times with that amount of water.
One year transaction
The Senate previously had a parallel norm that will now enter a new parliamentary process, with the government aiming for it to come into force on January 1, 2025. Planas underscored that while the law imposes obligations, it is primarily educational in nature to prevent food waste. He stated that the guiding message is straightforward: nothing is thrown away. The ministry is running a campaign based on this motto across four platforms, emphasizing economic efficiency, environmental impact, social justice, and a moral and ethical dimension, noting that roughly 800 million people globally face hunger or malnutrition.
The future standard will create a clear hierarchy for the destination of food, prioritizing human consumption above all else. Donation or redistribution will take precedence, with any food that cannot be used for human consumption potentially redirected to be used for juices, jams, or other products. When food cannot be repurposed for people, preferred uses include animal feed, manufacturing feedstock, or conversion into biofuels.
‘ugly’ products
The bill also outlines good-practice measures for both the public administration and various links within the food chain. Planas mentioned scenarios where business organizations could, for instance, operate sales channels for products deemed less attractive or aesthetically imperfect, promote local or seasonal products, and market items with near-expiration dates or limited remaining shelf life. This approach seeks to reduce waste by expanding consumer access to affordable, solid options that might otherwise be discarded.
Planas noted that the European Union is parallelly advancing regulation in this area, which could be approved in the coming months and is expected to cut food waste in the country by ten percent in industry settings and thirty percent in retail, restaurants, and households by 2030. Some autonomous communities, such as Catalonia, already have their own waste-reduction laws, and there has been discussion about disseminating these laws more widely within 2015 and into the first part of 2024.
The proposed regime classifies failing to adopt a plan to prevent food loss and waste as a serious offense, with fines ranging from two thousand and one euros to sixty thousand euros, and penalties up to five hundred thousand euros in cases of recidivism.
Overall, the draft legislation frames food waste reduction as a shared responsibility across the entire chain, with incentives for donation, reuse, and smarter consumption while enforcing meaningful consequences for noncompliance. The measure aligns with broader European ambitions to lower waste and improve resource efficiency, a goal repeatedly emphasized by Planas and the ministry in recent briefings. (Source attribution: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, briefing on the draft law, 2024.)