Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: New FDA Policy Being Implemented To Reduce Food Waste
HARRISBURG (KDKA) -- The message from Gov. Tom Wolf is that Pennsylvanians will not go hungry.
The Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding and Wolf said on Wednesday that they are implementing changes during the coronavirus pandemic to make sure food does not go to waste.
When schools, restaurants and hotels shut down, food supply orders either went down dramatically or disappeared.
So what happened to the bulk food items that they normally receive?
The state says the food went to waste.
Redding says wholesale package items could not be sold to grocery stores or directly to customers.
This is because the FDA required each item to be repacked and labeled.
Redding says the FDA has now relaxed those regulations and bulk items meant for a commercial kitchen could soon be sold in grocery stores.
"You can think of items in terms of bulk eggs. When a restaurant would purchase eggs, versus what we would purchase as a household, the packaging is different. So we just want consumers to know that product is safe," Redding said.
Redding said the change will allow the food to get into the hands of more people.
He wants all customers to know that while it looks different, each item has passed the same food insections as before.
