<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="s" measure-number="835" measure-id="id119s835" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2025-03-04" update-date="2025-09-26">
        <title>Reduce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119s835v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2025-09-26">
            <action-date>2025-03-04</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Reduce Food Loss and Waste Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a voluntary Food Loss and Waste Reduction Certification Program in order to reduce food loss and waste, increase donations of excess food to certain nonprofit organizations, and increase the use of alternative disposal methods for food (e.g., redirection to animal feed and composting).</p><p>Specifically,&nbsp;USDA must establish criteria for the certification of eligible participants (e.g., state or local governments, corporations, farms or food producers, retail grocers, restaurants, and schools).</p><p>USDA must also establish criteria for recognizing accreditation bodies to accredit third-party certifiers to review and certify program participants.&nbsp;Preference in accrediting third-party certifiers must be given to institutions of higher education that have expertise in food loss and waste reduction.&nbsp;USDA must maintain on a publicly available USDA website a list of (1) recognized accreditation bodies, and (2) accredited third-party certifiers.</p><p>Further, USDA must establish a voluntary label that certified program participants may use to indicate that they are certified. USDA must also promote certified participants on the USDA website and through&nbsp;events.</p><p>Finally, USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must revise a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on December 17, 2020, and relating to cooperation and coordination on food loss and waste.&nbsp;USDA must&nbsp;implement this bill in coordination with the FDA and the EPA and in accordance with the revised MOU.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
