Food safety and liability

Our commitment

Every effort is made by our donors and the FeedForward team to ensure that each donation matches the condition and tier it is listed with, and that every donation is made in good faith with the best intentions.

When a donor describes their surplus, AI drafts the listing and food-safety rules suggest a tier. The donor then reviews, corrects, and confirms every item before it is posted. Tiers are suggestions to help route food to its best use. They are not inspections or guarantees.

For recipients

Please inspect all food at pickup. You may refuse anything that does not look, smell, or feel right, or that does not meet your own organization's standards.

The rules we follow

• Donors are protected by federal law

  The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects donors and nonprofits from civil and criminal liability when they donate apparently wholesome food in good faith. Protection is lost only for gross negligence or intentional misconduct.

  ReFED: Federal liability protection (opens in a new tab)

• Restaurants can donate directly

  The Food Donation Improvement Act of 2022 expanded those protections. Restaurants, grocers, caterers, and schools can now donate directly to people in need, not only through a nonprofit.

  ReFED: Food Donation Improvement Act (opens in a new tab)

• Cooked food follows the USDA 2-hour rule

  USDA says never leave perishable food between 40 and 140°F for more than two hours, or one hour above 90°F. That is why FeedForward asks how long cooked food has been out before it can go to people.

  USDA: Keep clear of the Danger Zone (opens in a new tab)

• Food with meat never goes to animals

  The federal Swine Health Protection Act restricts feeding food waste that contains meat to pigs. FeedForward never sends food that contains or touched meat to any animal. It becomes compost instead.

  7 U.S.C. § 3803: Swine Health Protection Act (opens in a new tab)

• Kentucky: no food scraps for pigs

  Kentucky counts vegetable waste from preparing food as garbage, and bans feeding garbage to swine, treated or not. Plant-based scraps go to farms that raise goats, chickens, or other livestock, not pigs.

  Kentucky 302 KAR 22:080 (opens in a new tab)

• Tennessee: pigs only with approved processing

  Tennessee also counts plant waste from kitchens and restaurants as garbage. Feeding it to swine is unlawful unless it has been processed in a way approved by the state Commissioner of Agriculture. Bakery waste and dairy waste from milk plants are not counted as garbage.

  Tenn. Code § 44-2-404 (opens in a new tab)