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119-hr-7144119th CongressWALLET

Food Rescue Act

Sponsored By: Representative Torres, Ritchie [D-NY-15]

In Committee

Summary

This bill would create a national food rescue system to coordinate recovery, processing, transportation, and distribution of surplus and donated food to emergency feeding organizations and food-insecure communities.

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  • Families and households could see steadier access to rescued food through improved logistics, cold storage, and real-time matching between surplus sources and local emergency providers.
  • Nonprofit food rescue groups, food banks, local agencies, and partners could compete for grants to fund transportation, cold-chain storage, processing or repackaging, technology platforms, personnel, equipment, and other operational needs.
  • The Agriculture Department, acting through the Food and Nutrition Service, would run the system and coordinate it with the Farm-to-Food Bank Project and other USDA efforts. Funds appropriated for the new program are excluded from calculations under section 203D(b).

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

National food rescue system and grants

If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Food and Nutrition Service, to set up a national food rescue system. The system would coordinate finding, processing, transporting, and distributing surplus and donated food to food banks, emergency feeding groups, and food‑insecure communities. The bill would also create a competitive grant program and authorize appropriations of "such sums as may be necessary" to fund rescue activities. Grants would pay for collection and gleaning, cold storage and transport, processing and repackaging, matching technology, staff, and related operations; applicants would need to describe partners, estimated pounds recovered and households served, a budget, and an implementation plan.

New accounting rule for rescue funds

If enacted, the bill would amend the Emergency Food Assistance Act to add a parenthetical that excludes funds appropriated under the new food rescue section from the phrase "appropriated under this Act" in section 203D(b). This would change how USDA counts and treats those section 216 funds for related programs. This is an accounting and conforming change; it does not itself appropriate money or change who gets benefits.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Torres, Ritchie [D-NY-15]

NY • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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