Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill

Mr Speaker, I beg to move*, "That leave be given to introduce a Bill intituled 'An Act for the protection of certain food donors from liability for any death or personal injury resulting from the consumption of food donated by those food donors under certain conditions'."

**The Motion also stood in the name of Ms Poh Li San.*

Sir, it has been a long, at times painful but absolutely rewarding journey. More than four years ago, I said in this House that, "Food waste is a serious and growing problem. In 2018, 763,000 tonnes of food were wasted in Singapore, a 30% increase compared to 10 years ago. At the same time, some Singaporeans struggle to have three meals a day.

Both problems can be alleviated if we introduce a Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. This piece of legislation would help encourage companies and organisations to donate healthy food that would otherwise go to waste. It will help both the environment and our people. Will the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources support a Private Member's Bill for a Good Samaritan Food Donation Act?"

Four years later, I am glad and excited that we are now ready to move the Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill. Honestly, I am really hiding my pure excitement and uncontrollable happiness. The Bill has been made possible by the tremendous work done by the Good Samaritan Legislation Review Committee over the past four years.

The Committee comprise of representatives from BreadTalk, DBS bank, Food from the Heart, Foodscape Collective, Mandarin Oriental Singapore, NTUC Fairprice, Restaurant Association of Singapore, the Singapore Youth for Climate Action, the Food Bank, the Fullerton Hotels and Resorts, Ya Kun International and my legislative assistants, grassroot leaders and fellow Members of Parliament, Ms Poh Li San, Ms Hany Soh and Mr Edward Chia.

It has been a privilege working with this team of passionate volunteers who donated their time and energy, so that many people and our planet can benefit from this piece of legislation. We spent hours, days, weeks, months and years discussing what should and should not be included in the Bill, what food should be covered and who should be covered.

We consulted extensively, conducting public consultations and meeting with restaurants, hotels, social enterprises, primary food producers, the food processing sector, distributors, wholesalers, food logistic, transport and delivery provider companies, supermarkets and merchants, bakeries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

I am grateful for the Committee's hard work and inspired by their passion in wanting to help others.

Mr Speaker, we do have a food waste problem in Singapore. Every year, for the past few years, we generated about 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes of food waste and a lot of this food is still edible. The Good Samaritans Food Donation Bill aims to encourage more food donation by protecting food donors from criminal or civil liability for any death or personal injury resulting from consuming the food donated, provided that certain conditions to ensure food safety and hygiene are met.

This Bill will help reduce food waste and increase availability of food for redistribution to food-insecure communities. It is a Bill by the people, for the people and for our planet. I have waited a long time to say this, Mr. Speaker, I beg to move.