PR&LA Fall 2018

Fall 2018 • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters •  15 Donating the Surplus According to FeedingAmerica.org, more than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians struggle with hunger, of which nearly 500,000 are children. Passed in 1996, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects restaurants from civil and criminal liability should a recipient get ill or hurt as a result of consumed donated food. Donors are only culpable in cases of gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Since 2003, the Olive Garden in West Manchester Township, York County has donated more than 70,000 pounds of food to the LifePath Christian Ministries (formerly known as the York Rescue Mission). The other York County Olive Garden, located in Hanover, donates its excess food to the Hanover Area Council of Churches. Both York County restaurants participate in their parent company’s hunger relief program, Olive Garden Harvest, which has local restaurants donating food to their local community food banks. Since 2003, Olive Garden restaurants, which are owned by Darden Restaurants, have donated more than 38 million pounds of food through this program. More and more food rescue groups, ones that pick up and deliver excess food to food banks/hunger relief agencies, like Fiorenza’s Food for Friends and Bucks County Food Runners, exist today, and technology is making it easier to find them. Apps like Philadelphia’s Food Connect and Pittsburgh 412 Food Rescue use your smart phone to match food donors and beneficiaries and mobilize volunteers to make it happen. Food Connect helped donate uneaten food from the 2016 Democratic National Convention and the 2017 NFL Draft. Food safety requirements don’t allow these rescue groups to accept food produced by individuals or provide food directly to individuals. All food donations must be produced in a commercial, certified kitchen and cannot have been set out (on a buffet) or unwrapped. ➔ If you would like to connect to a food recovery program and don’t know where to start, give us a call at 800-345-5353—we’re happy to help.