The regulations apply to unpackaged, rather than pre-packed food.

The number of people in need of assistance from the Food Bank has increased by 100 percent over the past five years. A portion of the donated food also comes from retailers.

This comes at a time when the number of people relying on food donations from charity Toidupank (literally "Food bank") has been increasing since the Covid crisis, followed by the effects of inflation and high energy prices, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Compared to five years ago, the number of Food Bank clients has now doubled.

"Last year, we distributed approximately 4.6 million kilograms of food, which was eight percent more than the year before," Toidupank CEO Piet Boerefijn said.

Only 10 percent of food distributed by Toidupank comes from individual donations and from food the organization itself purchases. The remaining 90 percent is donated by stores, producers, importers, and farmers.
With stores, offerings tend to come from unsold stock, Boerefijn added.

He said: "Right now, we see that what stores are donating to us has remained stable or even declined slightly, as they try to sell as much as possible until the last moment."

This may fall further now as the Ministry of Regional and Agricultural Affairs is considering imposing requirements on donating food that has not been pre-packaged, such as salads, soups, and pancakes, which can, for instance, be obtained at a supermarket self-service counter.

Estonian retailers' association (Kaupmeeste liit) CEO Nele Peil said the proposed requirements would include listing the food's type, allergen information, the donor's legal name, and, in some cases, contact details.

This would add unnecessary bureaucracy, she went on.

Peil said: "Currently, when donating food, stores simply collect certain products and hand them over with a delivery note, either to Toidupank or another cooperating organization, listing only the products and their quantities."

"If stores are now required to provide their contact details for each item separately, they would presumably have to attach labels to each product individually and separately list allergens."

"This seems like an entirely unnecessary additional burden and extra work. It could lead to a situation where stores decide that it is not worth the effort and simply stop donating food to avoid dealing with it altogether," Peil went on.

Peil added that allergen information is already required on product packaging and that this information is already available to Toidupank.

"Toidupank has already been given information about which foods we provide, what is in our selection, what may be donated, and the associated allergen details," she added.

"This means that if a person has an allergy, they can simply ask Toidupank whether a particular food package contains something they are allergic to; Toidupank already has this information. There is no need to attach labels to each package every night. That is entirely unnecessary additional work."
Hellika Kallaste, adviser at the ministry's food safety department, said the aim of the proposed change is to provide consumers with more precise information about the food they consume, adding that considerations of bureaucracy were also taken into account.

She said: "The goal is to review and establish requirements that, on the one hand, do not impose excessive administrative burdens on donors, but on the other, ensure that recipients are sufficiently informed, particularly in terms of food safety."

"The draft regulation states that this information must be provided to the recipient or consumer, either with the food or at the point of handover. It does not specifically stipulate that the information be included on the packaging label. That is one option, but it is up to each individual donor to determine how to provide the necessary information with the donated food," Kallaste went on.

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