SINGAPORE, April 5 — When Member of Parliament (MP) Louis Ng saw a hotel restaurant discard heaps of unfinished but still unspoiled buffet food several years ago, he decided it was time for Singapore to tackle its significant food waste problem.

But instead of donating the food to charities and the needy, the restaurant was worried about being held responsible for any food safety issues that may arise should the donated food be eaten later when it is no longer fresh.

To this end, the Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC) MP told the media on Thursday evening (April 4) that he had spent the past four years working on a new Private Member’s Bill to address these liability concerns by businesses, especially restaurants and hotels, that cause them to be reluctant to donate food.

Called the Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill, Mr Ng intends to propose a waiver for food donors from any civil or criminal liabilities arising from death and personal injuries caused by the food they donated, something that has been in the works since 2020.

What is new is that Mr Ng is proposing four conditions that the food donor must meet in order for the waiver to apply to them. After all, Mr Ng said the provisions under the Bill are not meant to absolve food donors from malpractice.

"We will make sure that food safety and food hygiene standards are met in order for the liability to be waived,” said Mr Ng at the sidelines of the Bill’s final public consultation session with industry stakeholders.

The Bill is set to be tabled in the second half of 2024, he said.

This will be his second Private Member’s Bill, with his first one introduced in 2020 to protect Singapore’s wildlife through amendments to the Wild Animals and Birds Act.

Conditions for food donors to be shielded from any liability

Presently, Singapore does not offer liability protection for food donors or food recovery organisations. In lieu of this, indemnity forms are often used to release donors from any risks or liabilities that may arise from untoward incidents.

The proposed law is meant to cover any entity or person that gives away food for a charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purpose without any monetary exchange.

This means that if the food is sold or a logistics fee is imposed for any sum, the act cannot be considered a donation and thus will not be protected from liability.

Further to this, the Bill proposes that food donors who donate any food must also fulfil four conditions to be granted liability waivers:

• The food must not have been "unsafe” and "unsuitable” for consumption when it left the possession or control of the food donor
• The food donor must have also informed the recipient of the food of the handling requirements to ensure that it remained safe and suitable for consumption after it left the possession or control of the food donor
• The food donor must inform the recipient of the food of the time limit for consumption
• The food donor, before donating the food, took all reasonably practicable measures to comply with any applicable requirement under any written law relating to food safety and food hygiene when handling the food

The definition of what constitutes unsafe and unsuitable food follows the Sale of Food Act, said Mr Ng, adding that food is typically considered unsafe four hours after it was prepared, based on the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) guidelines for catered food for events.

In general under the Sale of Food Act, food is deemed unsafe if it poses a risk of causing illness or injury to a person consuming it, provided it is properly handled and consumed according to its intended use.

The food is also considered to be unsuitable if it is damaged, contains harmful substances, is from diseased animals, contains foreign agents, or has packaging that affects its intended use, among other things.

What happens if a food safety mishap occurs?

Asked what recourse recipients of donated food may take if they suffer from food poisoning, Mr Ng said they may still file a complaint with the SFA, and the agency would carry out its enforcement investigations. This is unchanged from the status quo, said the MP.

However, if the food came from a donor who has met all four conditions for the waiver, the donor would be protected from any liability under the proposed law.

What this means is that from the onset, recipients of food donations bear any risk of consuming donated food, given that they had been informed by the donor about food safety, such as the time limit for the food to be consumed.

But should the authorities investigate and uncover a food safety issue when the food was donated, "then there wouldn’t be a waiver of liability because of the first condition, which says the food must not be unsafe or unsuitable,” said Mr Ng.

"For example, if this complaint goes to NEA (National Environment Agency), they go to this restaurant’s kitchen and find rats and cockroaches, then the first criterion would not be met.” — TODAY