§2.Establishment of national food rescue system
This section establishes a national food rescue system, to be operated by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Food and Nutrition Service, to coordinate recovery, processing, transportation, and distribution of surplus and donated food to emergency feeding organizations and food-insecure communities. In operating the system, the Secretary must (1) identify surplus food sources across agricultural, retail, manufacturing, and distribution sectors; (2) develop partnerships with nonprofit food rescue organizations, food banks, and local agencies; (3) expand logistics and infrastructure such as aggregation sites, transportation, cold-chain storage, and last-mile delivery; (4) support technology platforms and data systems for tracking surplus food; and (5) provide technical assistance.
To carry out the system, the Secretary must establish a competitive grant program for food rescue organizations partnering with food banks, food recovery networks, state, local, Tribal, or territorial governments, logistics providers, and emergency food providers. Grant funds may be used for (1) recovery operations including gleaning and aggregation; (2) transportation and cold-chain logistics; (3) storage, processing, or repackaging infrastructure; (4) real-time matching technology; (5) personnel, equipment, or operational needs; and (6) administrative costs.
Applications must describe proposed projects and impacts (including estimated pounds of food recovered and households served), identify partners, provide budgets and timelines, and detail sourcing, transportation, storage, and delivery plans. The Secretary must coordinate with programs under the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983, the Farm to Food Bank Project, and other USDA food loss and waste reduction efforts. The section authorizes appropriations of such sums as are necessary.