Adopted by Parliament on October 2, 2018 and promulgated on November 1, 2018, the law for balanced commercial relations in the agricultural and food sector and healthy, sustainable food accessible to all (Law No. 2018-938) aims to make healthy and sustainable food accessible to consumers and to balance commercial relations in the agricultural sector. It follows the Etats Généraux de l'Alimentation launched in 2017 and impacts, in particular, the actors of collective catering.
It is commonly called "EGalim law", "food law" or "agriculture and food law".
The impact of the Egalim law on collective catering
The Egalim law includes several measures to ensure "healthy, quality, sustainable food accessible to all and respectful of animal welfare", as well as a series of actions to fight against food waste.
- Responsible and partially organic sourcing
One of the most significant measures in this sector is that asof January 1, 2022, all canteens will have to source at least 50% of their products from sustainable sources, including 20% from organic sources. At present, only 3% of of collective catering establishments offer organic products.
Article 24 of the law specifies the conditions under which a product can be qualified as sustainable, such as the following: "products acquired according to methods that take into account the costs imputed to environmental externalities linked to the product during its life cycle".
- Plastic reduction
The law endorses the reduction of plastic use in restaurants, canteens, take-out and food shops in several stages.
In 2020 (article 28 of the law), " plastic straws, cutlery, steak spikes, disposable glass lids, meal trays, ice cream pots, salad bowls, boxes and mixing sticks for drinks" will be banned in these establishments, as well as plastic water bottles in school canteens. By 2025, plastic food containers (for cooking, heating and serving) will be banned from use in local authority catering.
- Increasing plant-based proteins and implementing a vegetarian menu per week
On an experimental basis and for 2 years, starting November 1, 2019, school catering establishments must offer a vegetarian meal at least once a week. The law specifies that "the experimentation is subject to an evaluation, in particular of its impact on food waste, on attendance rates and on the cost of meals, the results of which are transmitted to the Parliament at the latest six months before its term".
For canteens with more than 200 seats, it will be necessary to propose a multi-year plan for the diversification of proteins, i.e. also taking into account vegetable proteins.
- Extending the fight against food waste
Egalim is also an opportunity to extend the fight against food waste, with the aim of creating a program combining the donation of foodstuffs (Garot law), a more responsible management of the latter, and the obligation to make its commitments public.
Article 88 thus specifies that the government is empowered to "impose on certain operators in the agri-food industry and catering industry to make public their commitments in favor of the fight against food waste, in particular the internal control procedures that they implement in this matter".
Beyond the framework of collective catering, the Egalim law of course provides for other measures to ensure the income of producers, improve the sanitary and environmental conditions of production and strengthen animal welfare.
This law, whose requirements will be implemented step by step, reflects the evolution of the catering industry (and not only collective) towards more transparency and quality of products, a more eco-responsible approach and a better control of flows and foodstuffs in order to limit food waste.
