Food donation costs money in Belgium

Merchants who want to donate food to charity have to pay value-added tax (VAT) on it, which makes it cheaper to throw it away.

Since last year, donation to food banks is free, but the surpluses of small neighbourhood shops are often not large enough for the food banks. The Neutral Syndicate for the Self-Employed (NSZ) deplores the distinction between giving food away to charity versus giving it to food banks, and wants the law changed.

Every year, 372 kg of edible food ends up in the trash in Flanders, reports the VTM newsroom.