Economic agents of Moldova will be encouraged by tax incentives to donate food to help vulnerable populations and reduce food waste.
This is provided for by the corresponding amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Loss and Waste of Food and the Tax Code, which were passed by Parliament in the second reading. Under the bill, a range of food products that are safe for human consumption will be allowed to be donated to charities and food banks. The matter concerns products that have lost their marketable appearance as a result of damage to the secondary packaging, products that do not meet the manufacturer’s technical specifications in color, size or shape, products with errors on the label, as well as in the presence of surplus food products expected for a certain holiday period or certain holidays. The bill also provides for some additions to the Tax Code. Thus, the economic operator who donates food will receive the same benefits and tax deductions as in the case of leftovers, waste and natural loss. The deduction of food products donated by food industry operators will be carried out within limits approved annually by the heads of institutions. As the authors of the legislative initiative noted, since 2022, Moldova has a regulatory framework that regulates the free transfer of food products to beneficiary organizations for the purpose of restoration and redistribution of food products to socially vulnerable beneficiaries, social canteens, etc. At the same time, the Law on the Prevention of Loss and Waste of Food, which took effect on May 25, 2023, is currently not working for certain reasons. So far, no legal transfer of food from economic operators in the agri-food sector has been successful. In the European Union, it is estimated that around 20% of all food is lost or wasted, and the associated costs are estimated at around 143 billion euros. There are no statistics on food waste in Moldova, but reports from the State Tax Service for 2022 showed that more than 800 economic agents wrote off over 1.4 billion lei as losses and balances. At the same time, on average, a resident of the country annually throws away about 76 kg of food at home. // 14.06.2024 - InfoMarket.
