As of right now, many people/organizations refuse to donate their leftover food to the needy, or to organizations that help the needy, due to fear of lawsuits if someone should get hurt from the food - sick, food poisoning, or some other form of damage or harm as a result of the donated food. If Maklev's proposal passes, donors of food would not be prone to lawsuits and would not bear criminal responsibility for any problems resulting, and that would increase the amount of food donated to the organizations that work to help the needy.
Maklev explains that a lot of good, not spoiled or damaged, food is disposed of just because of bureaucracy that dissuades hotels, the Knesset, restaurants, people making affairs such as weddings, etc. from donating the food to the needy. With every fourth child in Israel under the poverty line, thousands of children go to sleep every night hungry, and we have a solution for it.
As of today, with the exposure to lawsuits, hotels and other organizations are donating 1765 hot meals per day. Maklev says that number can easily be doubled by removing the risk of lawsuit. Probably even more as many food manufacturers have expressed willingness or desire to donate food but have refrained form doing so out of fear of lawsuits. Leket Israel considers this a social welfare law of the highest degree and a tremendous opportunity to shrink social gaps and provide hot food to many in need.
This law proposal already made it through much of the process in the last session of Knesset and is being prepared now, and organizations are preparing, for the coming Knesset session to pass it and make it official.
source: Actualic
I don't know what the laws are in the USA about this, but I was always told many people making affairs, and organizations, do not donate leftover food out of fear of lawsuits and liability. The fear makes sense. Removing liability might, will, increase donations, but what happens when people start getting sick from spoiled food. And that's not even taking into account people donating bad food with malicious intent.
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There are 'good Samaritan' type laws in many states (including NY and NJ) but most donors are still afraid legally to donate.
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