It's illegal for citizens to feed the homeless sometimes, not for stores/restaurants to give away free food or leftovers.
They simply choose to pour bleach on the surplus rather than give it away as "it encourages people to not buy food."
All they have to do is simply not pour bleach on the food, or simply require a waiver signing away liability from mold or other issues.
They just don't care.
I covered that part already.
But I guess you have never been an entrepreneur and had to deal with regulations, insurance and actual liability.
And a homeless person of questionable sanity cannot be held responsible for what they sign.
Going to jail for a citizen feeding the homeless is nothing but a slap on the wrist in comparison. Would you seriously risk your business and all your employee's livelihoods?
Are you seriously saying that them pouring bleach on products they threw in the bin is to protect them from a lawsuit?
Yes, I am seriously saying that.
And yes, that is why they are doing that.
If you don't believe me, you can go and ask them yourself.
Most places just have you lock the dumpster.
Its all about following regulations.
Supermarkets can't be held liable for what is thrown away, that's why there are some supermarkets or bagel shops that do not do that.
Literally google "supermarket bleach food" and you'll find plenty of articles talking about it.
They do it just to waste the food. It has nothing to do with regulations, if it did they'd require such dumpsters to be locked up behind a fence. They don't.
I think that there is no more liability once it is disposed in a dumpster, so there is no reason to pour a bleach over it or lock it up.
Well, I know there is liability all the way until that trash gets put into a land fill.
Many many court cases. And if you do not believe me, call an insurance agent and ask about insurance for business premises.
Please show me that law. Other than trespassing, there is no such law as far as I know. Pouring bleach is often, on the other hand, against companies policies. It can actually poison people who do dumpster diving.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2014/jan/29/skipping-food-waste-supermarkets-dumpster-diving
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7564402/Iceland-staff-pour-bleach-onto-waste-food-to-stop-homeless-people-eating-it.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/french-law-forbids-food-waste-by-supermarkets
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism
You're putting me on, right?
If you aren't, you have no idea about liability or insurance required when running a business. If you are that naive, I can't help you.
Here is a story to help illustrate this:
A friend of mine worked for city schools. He would be tasked with throwing away any food that was out of date. Such as #10 cans. You know, the big cans.
My friend would take them down to the local homeless cafeteria.
And basically, they all had to look the other way, while he put the cans on the shelf, because by regulations, they couldn't accept them.