The Shaw’s supermarket chain said Thursday that it will reinstate its food donation program, but only at its Brunswick store.

Teresa Edington, a spokeswoman for Shaw’s, said in an email that it is restoring its Fresh Rescue program in the Brunswick store because that location’s partner, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention, was not notified of the recent policy change.

Karen Parker, executive director for the hunger prevention program, said the change is good news but she doesn’t know if it is only temporary.

“That’s one of the things we’re hoping to pin down in the next couple days,” Parker said. “But certainly, this is good, especially the timing. We hope to be a permanent partner.”

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Rep Chellie Pingree wrote to the president of Shaw’s to express concerns over the company’s decision to halt its donation of surplus food to food pantries and soup kitchens.

In a letter to Jim Rice, president of Shaw’s and Star Market, Pingree said she was “very disappointed” by the change in corporate policy.

“The loss of these contributions has had an ongoing harmful impact on food access throughout Maine, most recently with the loss of donations to the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program,” she wrote. “I am writing to ask you to explain the corporate policy that has reportedly led to the decision to stop donations, and the reasoning behind it. I would also like to know if this decision is likely to lead to more food ending up in landfills.”

Shaw’s donated perishable food to local hunger organizations for many years but stopped doing so, although some individual stores had continued the donations. Edington did not answer questions about the company’s policy, which had stopped food donations across the state, or what will now happen to perishable food in Shaw’s stores. She did say that Shaw’s will continue to support food banks and pantries in New England in other ways, including food drives and other charitable initiatives.

Hannaford, the largest grocery store chain in Maine, still donates its perishable foods to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention, as do Target and Panera Bread. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods also donate perishable food in the Portland area.

Kristen Miale, president of the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, the state’s largest food bank, said Shaw’s notified all Maine food banks and pantries in 2013 that it would no longer be able to provide food donations. That represented a loss of 400,000 pounds of meat that Shaw’s had provided to Good Shepherd annually, she said.

Miale said corporate donations of food that was nearing its expiration date or wasn’t selling have been going on for decades. She said the tradition is partly rooted in goodwill, but seemed to take off in the 1990s when a new federal law, the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, took effect.

Miale said that law protects suppliers that provide food to relief agencies from being sued in the event of illness or sickness.

Parker said her organization relies heavily on donated food, and when one provider is eliminated, the impact is great.

Pingree introduced a bill in Congress this week, the Food Recovery Act, aimed at addressing food waste. On Monday, at a press conference announcing the legislation, she said roughly 40 percent of food produced in the United States every year is wasted, yet as many as 50 million people suffer from food insecurity.

“Donating excess food or food near the sell-by date to soup kitchens and food pantries is one of the best ways we can reduce food waste and address hunger issues at the same time,” Pingree wrote to Shaw’s president. “Turning excess food into animal feed, compost or converting it to energy are all better than dumping it in a landfill, but none of them are as a good a solution as sending that food to families who don’t have enough to eat.”

 

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