By Story Hinckley

France isnt an obvious frontrunner in food recovery， but new legislation has helped catapult the nation to the top of the 2017 Food Sustainability Index.2

France is a culinary3 leader—both at the table and， more recently， in the trash can.

In February 2016， France became the first country in the world to prohibit supermarkets from throwing away unused food through unanimously4 passed legislation. Now， supermarkets of a certain size must donate unused food or face a fine. Other policies require schools to teach students about food sustainability， companies to report food waste statistics in environmental reports， and restaurants to make take-out bags available.5

These laws “make it the norm to reduce waste，” says Marie Mourad， a PhD student in sociology at Sciences Po in Paris who has authored several reports on French food waste.6 “France is not the country that wastes the least food， but they have become the most proactive because they want to be the exemplary country in Europe.”7

Frances efforts have not gone unnoticed. The country earned top ranking in the 2017 Food Sustainability Index， a survey of 25 countries across Europe， the Middle East， Asia， and the Americas conducted by the Economist and Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Foundation （BCFN）8.

The people of France wasted 234 pounds of food per person annually， according to the BCFN report， which is drastically better than Frances international counterparts， compared to about 430 pounds per capita thrown away per year in the United States.9

Small scraps10 make big impact

Food waste， or unused， edible11 food， is a global issue. Each year， some 1.3 billion metric tons， or one-third of all the food produced， is thrown away， according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.12 Recovering just 25 percent of that wasted food could feed 870 million hungry people—effectively ending world hunger.

Not only does food waste fritter away valuable resources like water， arable land， and money， but it also fills up landfills， which emit methane.13 If food waste were a country， it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter behind the United States and China.

“Food waste is so urgent because where and how we produce food has the biggest impact on the planet of any human activity，” says Jason Clay， senior vice president of food and markets at the World Wildlife Fund14.

“In the US， we dont have champions15 in government who are thinking much about food， nevertheless food waste，” says Mr. Clay.“That has separated us from France： they have people who took up this issue politically.”

However， France is not an obvious frontrunner in this field.

Over the past decade， Britain has demonstrated far more statistical success， says Craig Hanson， global director of food， forests， and water at the World Resources Institute， and Denmark has made news with new projects like ugly produce grocery stores.16 Comparatively， Frances law is new， and as the Guardian reported after it was passed， only 11 percent of Frances 7.1 million metric tons of wasted food comes from supermarkets.

But the law is important symbolically17. Neither the United States， nor Britain or Denmark， have comparable government legislation.

“Making it illegal for supermarkets to throw away food is massive，” says Jonathan Bloom， author of the book American Wasteland. “That legislative step has impacted all levels of the French food chain.”

Before the 2016 law， French supermarkets typically donated 35，000 metric tons of food annually， roughly one-third of food banks18 total supply， Jacques Bailet， president of the food bank network Banques Alimentaires， told the Guardian in 2016. If supermarkets can increase their food bank donations by only 15 percent this could mean 10 million more meals for needy19 French each year.

This law improves not only the quantity of donated food， say experts， but also the quality. Food banks typically are supplied with canned goods， rather than nutritionally valuable foods like meat， vegetables， and fruit.

“The fight against food waste should become a major national cause， like road safety， that mobilises20 everybody，” said Mr. Garot in a press release. “That implies that every authority， at every level， plays its part.”

1. curb： 控制，抑制。

2. frontrunner： 領(lǐng)跑者；legislation： 立法；catapult： 用彈弓射，使……一躍成為。

3. culinary： 廚房的，烹飪用的。

4. unanimously： 一致地。

5. 其他政策規(guī)定，學(xué)校需要教導(dǎo)學(xué)生食物可持續(xù)性的相關(guān)知識(shí)，公司需要在環(huán)境報(bào)告中進(jìn)行食物垃圾數(shù)據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)，餐廳需要為食物提供外帶包裝。

6. norm： 規(guī)范，準(zhǔn)則；Sciences Po： 巴黎政治學(xué)院（Paris Institute of Political Studies），法國(guó)著名學(xué)府之一，是一所位于巴黎市中心的世界著名的社科類大學(xué)，在歐洲乃至世界享有盛名。

7. proactive： 積極的，先發(fā)制人的；exemplary： 典范的，可作楷模的。

8. Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Foundation （BCFN Foundation）： 巴里拉食物與營(yíng)養(yǎng)中心基金會(huì)，是一個(gè)非營(yíng)利性非政府機(jī)構(gòu)及多學(xué)科獨(dú)立智庫，主要分析經(jīng)濟(jì)、科學(xué)、社會(huì)和環(huán)境因素與食物的因果關(guān)系和影響因素，為提高食物可持續(xù)性提供解決方案。

9. drastically： 劇烈地，猛烈地；counterpart：相對(duì)應(yīng)的人或物，對(duì)手方；per capita： 人均的。

10. scrap： 小塊，碎片。

11. edible： 可食用的。

12. metric ton： 公噸（重量計(jì)量單位，等于一千公斤）；the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization： 聯(lián)合國(guó)糧食及農(nóng)業(yè)組織，是聯(lián)合國(guó)系統(tǒng)內(nèi)最早的常設(shè)專門機(jī)構(gòu)。其宗旨是提高人民的營(yíng)養(yǎng)水平和生活標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，改進(jìn)農(nóng)產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)和分配，改善農(nóng)村和農(nóng)民的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況，促進(jìn)世界經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展并保證人類免于饑餓。

13. 食物垃圾不僅浪費(fèi)了水、可耕種土地和錢財(cái)?shù)葘氋F資源，還會(huì)堆滿垃圾填埋場(chǎng)，從而生成沼氣，破壞環(huán)境。fitter away： 浪費(fèi)；arable： 適于耕種的，可開墾的；methane： 甲烷，沼氣。

14. World Wildlife Fund： 世界自然基金會(huì)，在全球享有盛譽(yù)的、最大的獨(dú)立性非政府環(huán)境保護(hù)組織之一，致力于保護(hù)世界生物多樣性及生物的生存環(huán)境，防止地球自然環(huán)境的加速惡化。

15. champion： 支持者，擁護(hù)者。

16. World Resources Institute： 世界資源研究所，是一個(gè)全球性環(huán)境與發(fā)展智庫，致力于研究環(huán)境與社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)的共同發(fā)展；ugly produce： 指那些賣相不好但可以吃的食材。

17. symbolically： 象征性地。

18. food bank： 食物銀行，主要為經(jīng)濟(jì)有困難人士提供緊急及短暫的膳食援助。本句中Banques Alimentaires是法語的“食物銀行”。

19. needy： 貧困的。

20. mobilise： 動(dòng)員。