1.3 billion tons of food goes to waste every year. At the same time, the United Nations estimates that there are some 850 million people in the world who are hungry.

The French Parliament recently past a law unanimously with the aim of cutting food waste by half by the year 2025. The national assembly voted to bar supermarkets from deliberately spoiling unsold food and then dumping it in the bin.

Grocery stores 400 square meters or more must sign contracts by July next year, ensuring the food is donated to charities or for animal feed.  The penalties to violators will strike at €75,000 and two years in jail.

According to Socialist deputy, Guillaume Garot, a former food minister and the man who proposed the bill, "it’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods."

Apparently, the most common form of keeping people from eating food that is still edible is to douse it with bleach. The decision, which will also ensure that the supermarkets sort the edible food before they send it out, and not put an "unfair burden" on the recipients.  The charities will supply their own trucks and refrigeration.

Europe is still going through a hard time. The economy is gradually improving, but we are not out of the woods yet. In some countries, austerity measures have bitten deep, including the UK, Spain and Greece and people are going hungry.

The European Parliament ought to discuss the matter in a plenary and propose EU-wide legislation to emulate France. Malta has always had a good social safety net, but the fact of the matter is that people go hungry here too.

It is absolutely scandalous to think that today’s Capitalist economic system has allowed supermarkets to deliberately ruin food that is still edible just to make sure that no one eats it for free.

It defies belief. France has always been a progressive nation. The Maltese Prime Minister also prides himself on being progressive and he should take up France’s lead in this respect and emulate that law and enact it in our parliament. We are sure that he would not find opposition to it by the Nationalist Party. In fact, it could be one of those rare moments when the parties come together on an issue.

The fact that France has done something about it is positive, but the fact that it still happens in most European countries everyday is a damning judgement of our society and way of life. This ought to change and it ought to change now.