The Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture's plan, when announced this week, led to significant confusion with food banks and retailers alike, and attracted criticism from politicians from Hartman's party's partner in office, the Reform Party, including from the prime minister.

However, Hartman told "Aktuaalne Kaamera" that the change has been completely misunderstood, adding that the requirements for donating food are actually being relaxed, not tightened.

The planned rules would apply only to loose-packaged foodstuffs, such as those which can be selected at a self-serve or staffed supermarket food counter, and not to pre-packaged items.

These would now have to have labeling with information such as allergy details and even data on the donor.

Hartman said: "If we are talking about packaged pastries, nothing will change because all the necessary information is already provided on the packaging."

"When pastries are given directly from a store to a recipient, nothing changes either. But if a store decides to donate via an intermediary, a network, or an organization, then under these changes, the amount of information they need to provide will actually decrease," she went on.

"Now, information about allergens would have to be provided, as this is crucial for health safety. It is also required to specify a contact person and the type of food being donated. Previously, there were six different data points that had to be submitted, but now there are only three," she added.

Hartman said one reason for the misunderstanding is the lack of sufficient communication between food banks and retailers.

Most significant of these is Toidupank, the bulk of whose donations come direct from retailers, for instance, products nearing the end of their shelf life, rather than from individual donations from the public.

The minister said: "There have always been requirements and criteria for donations, and we have tried to communicate this information through our officials and agencies."

"It seems — and this is something we can acknowledge and improve upon in the future — that the way we conveyed information about these changes may not have worked as effectively as it should have," Hartman added.

According to the ministry, stores will not need to label every donated food item individually; it is sufficient to display the required information at the food distribution point.

Of unpackaged product donations, Toidupank says it receives pastries most of all. However, they have not been following the planned regulations so far.

Toidupank project manager Kerttu Olõkainen said: "We are required to provide information on allergens, product name, expiration date, net quantity, and the donor," referring to the information which will be required under the planned ministry rules.

"This represents a significant workload for us. We have tried to simplify it somewhat for ourselves," she added, and said this is sufficient as recipients are primarily interested in the food they receive, rather than its composition.

Supermarket Rimi donates 58 percent of all written-off food, which amounts to nearly 1,500 tons per year.

Katrin Bats, Rimi's head of corporate social responsibility, said: "Compared with the other Baltic states, we are already doing very well."
The new rules would not help here, she said.

"Any change that makes food donation more difficult or bureaucratically complex is discouraging for donors," Bats went on, noting that the donation process should be further simplified, for example, by finding solutions which allow stores to donate food without needing the accompanying documentation.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) called the ministry proposal an instance of excessive bureaucracy, even as the Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 coalition agreement contained a section on cutting red tape.

Some politicians on the right have even called for the ministry's food safety department to be shut down altogether.

Public reliance on food banks such as Toidupank and other aid has risen through the wave of crises which have hit the 2020s so far, starting with the Covid pandemic and followed by soaring energy prices, high inflation, and the effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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