Feeding San Diego sees increase in food donations during early months of new California law mandating food donations

SAN DIEGO – Since Senate Bill 1383 became law on Jan. 1 of this year, Feeding San Diego, the county’s leading hunger-relief and food rescue organization, has seen a nearly 25% increase in the pounds of edible food donations and has onboarded 25 new food donors.

SB 1383 is a California law that mandates certain businesses that generate food waste donate the maximum amount of surplus edible food fit for human consumption to hunger relief organizations like Feeding San Diego. Feeding San Diego calls this food rescue and has been operating using this model since it was founded in 2007. Today, Feeding San Diego rescues about 2.3 million pounds of food every month.

Food waste’s negative impact on the environment is at the forefront of the law. According to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), landfills are the third largest source of methane in California, and organic waste in landfills emits 20% of the state’s methane, a climate super pollutant 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. CalRecycle is responsible for enforcement of SB 1383.  

“Donating food is now top-of-mind not only for our current food donors, but for businesses who know they need to comply with SB 1383,” said Patty O’Connor, chief supply chain officer at Feeding San Diego. “We are seeing a lot more variety of the types of foods being donated, which is vital to our organization. We know there is extra food out there and that hunger is not a sourcing problem ⁠— it’s a distribution problem. With our extensive network, we have the tools needed to redistribute this food and get it to San Diegans facing hunger.”

Feeding San Diego uses its extensive network of over 400 food donors and nearly 300 community partners to rescue food and get it out in the community as quickly as possible, accepting donations from grocery stores, manufacturers, and wholesalers all around San Diego County. The non-profit organization manages over 775 pickups every week between these food donors and community partners, which include other non-profits and faith-based organizations. The organization puts a focus on food safety, carefully training every partner on proper handling and safety protocols.

As the only Feeding America member in the region, Feeding San Diego was an early adopter of the food rescue model. It piloted a program with Starbucks called FoodShare back in 2016 and has been able to save hundreds of thousands of pounds of food from that partnership alone. Just last year, the program rescued over 447,000 pounds of food to feed San Diegans facing hunger.

Feeding San Diego is currently accepting new food donors and community partners to help distribute the food. To learn more, visit feedingsandiego.org/donate-food.

Submitted by Feeding San Diego.