Weeding through surplus: Unintended policy consequences for perishable food recovery–Insights from a community-engaged simulation model

Recovering food of high nutritional quality has become an important strategy to address food and nutrition security and waste. Food donation policies have been crafted to address these issues; however, the effectiveness and possible unintended consequences of these policies for perishable surplus remain unclear. Using system dynamics and group model building, we analyzed two donation policy approaches, namely a ‘Farm to Food Bank’ tax credit for farmers and an organic waste ban in New York State. We simulated the effects of these policies on the recovery and redistribution of fresh fruit and vegetable surplus from the farm and retail sectors, reporting changes in quality, availability, and waste generation of these foods within the food rescue system. Simulation results showed how donation policies can unintendedly result in inadequate provision of poor-quality food to vulnerable populations, as well as considerable increases in waste at food rescue organizations. However, enhancing the capacity of these organizations allowed the tax credit to maximize food surplus distribution and minimize waste, and improving both the quality of retail donations and organizations' capacity ensured the success of the organics waste ban. Our findings underscore the need to address systematic issues when dealing with food loss and waste in future programs and policies.