Become a sponsor

Did you know that the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996. (42 U.S. Code § 1791) provides limited liability protection for people who make good faith donations of food and grocery products to nonprofits that feed the hungry? The act also provides both civil and criminal limited liability protection, for those who distribute food and groceries, such as food banks.

In the 2018 Farm Bill (Section 12504 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) Congress called for USDA to raise awareness of the liability protection afforded by the act. 

Food donations to help our mission to feed those in need in our city are very important and welcomed. as a donor, you can receive protection under the act. A person or gleaner must donate in good faith apparently wholesome food or apparently fit grocery products to Manafold because we a re a non-profit that will ultimately distribute food to the less fortunate individuals in our region. The act also provides protection against civil and criminal liability to us as a nonprofit organizations that will receive such donated items in good faith.

• Here, the term “person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, organization, association, or governmental entity, including a retail grocer, wholesaler, hotel,      motel, manufacturer, restaurant, caterer, farmer, and nonprofit food distributor or hospital. In the case of a corporation, partnership, organization, association, or governmental entity, the term includes an officer, director, partner, deacon, trustee, council member, or other elected or appointed individual responsible for the governance of the entity.

• The act covers donations made and received in “good faith,” but it does not define “good faith.”

• The term “apparently wholesome food” means food that meets all quality and labeling standards imposed by federal, state, and local laws and regulations even      though the food may not be readily marketable due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus, or other conditions.

• The term “apparently fit grocery product” means a grocery product that meets all quality and labeling standards imposed by federal, state, and local laws and      regulations even though the product may not be readily marketable due to      appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus, or other conditions

Visit for more information: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-good-samaritan-faqs.pdf