Governor Josh Shapiro on June 30 signed State Rep. Tarik Khan’s sponsored bill, amending the Donated Food Limited Liability Act to provide better legal protection for donors. 

The bill targets best-by dates as a sole determining factor in deciding whether food is safe to donate. Khan described the bill as an extension of Good Samaritan laws, allowing donors to provide items such as canned goods, pasta, or spices that are often safe to eat beyond their expiration date. 

Christine Schafer, a volunteer for Germantown Community Fridge, told the Local, “It was a case-by-case thing, as far as our cooking and using (expired goods). … It really has been a discretionary thing, the same as we would do at home. Obviously, if the product is dated yesterday, but still looks totally fine, we're going to cook with it. To me, that's common sense, and there's not really a fear that we're going to get somebody sick.” 

Schafer runs the cooking program for the community fridge and said they often receive products such as canned goods or frozen meat that are past their expiration date and still fresh, but hesitate to place them in the fridge for people to take. Instead, they use those items to cook meals. 

With the new protections in place, Schafer is more confident about placing those items in the fridge, saying, “Now we would be able to do that.” 

The bill reads, “Any person who, in good faith, donates food (to a charitable or religious organization) for ultimate free distribution to needy individuals, shall not be subject to criminal or civil liability arising from the condition of such food, if the donor reasonably inspects the food at the time of donation and finds the food fit for human consumption.”

Khan told the Local, “This was a bill that, in previous sessions, has been introduced by Representatives Melissa Shusterman and David Rowe. Last session, I introduced it with Representative Rowe, and it just didn't get over the finish line.”

In April, the bill passed the state House in a unanimous vote, before passing in the state Senate in another unanimous vote on June 26. 

Khan said, “I teamed up with Representative Tom Jones, a conservative Republican from Lebanon-Lancaster, and we did the work of getting it through the committees of both chambers, and then through the actual House and Senate. … In Pennsylvania, there's 1.2 million families that are going to bed hungry every night, and a quarter of them are kids. So this is something that we have to find ways to address.” 

He added, “This was just a no-brainer, when you have already existing protections that make it illegal to donate rancid food … best-by dates are really just recommendations that are not scientific. They're really intended for the grocers when they get product in to be able to differentiate the new product from the old product.” 

Before the bill, Khan said there were “no liability protections” if someone decided to sue a donor or charity solely on the basis of the expiration date of food they were given. Now, the expiration date is “not an excluding factor. If the food is bad, if it is spoiled, that is still illegal,” Khan said. 

Khan worked with the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association (PFMA) on the bill. The organization represents food distributors and wrote on Facebook, “PFMA is proud to have backed this bill from the start. It protects food donors and helps get safe, surplus food, even past its label date, to people who need it.” 

For Schafer, the bill means the community fridge will have more access to pasta, rice, canned goods, nondairy-based condiments, spices that are past their expiration date, but still fully fresh, and more. 

“I think the bill definitely gives us more flexibility in helping avoid food waste, because we can accept and we can distribute things that are shortly after expiration, but obviously still in very good condition,” Schafer said. “I think from a food waste standpoint, it's very good, and it would make it easier for us to feed more people, because we wouldn't have to immediately disqualify certain items.” 

Anyone interested in donating to Germantown Community Fridge can visit Germantowncommunityfridge.com or drop off items at one of their locations: 20 W. Armat St., 19144, or 19 E. High St., 19144. 

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@chestnuthilllocal.com.