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Large grocery stores in France now have to donate unsold food to charity

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[THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot]

Food banks in France will soon be giving out thousands more free meals a year thanks to a recently passed law forcing some grocery stores to donate unsold food to charity instead of throwing it out.

It is the first law of its kind in the world, reports The Guardian.

The stores will also be required to give away food approaching its best-before date and stop the intentional spoiling food by soaking it in water or bleach, reports The Telegraph.

The food will now have to be given to charities or farms, which would use whatever was not fit for human consumption as animal feed or compost.

The initiative, which will only affect stores larger than 400 square metres, is a step in the European country’s efforts to reduce its food waste by 50 percent in the next decade, the CBC reports. Between 20 and 30 kilograms of food is wasted per person in France per year, reports the CBC.