ROMANIA: The new food waste law will shut down social stores | Progresiv
The new law on the reduction of food waste, which would to be voted next week, would have the effect of ending the social shops in the country, a source from where hundreds of families could still buy their food at lower prices. 
At the same time, this new legislative proposal does not impose any obligation on food companies to reduce waste. All measures remain optional.
Social stores and other similar social economy structures are not profitable. The sale of products ensures, often only partially, the subsistence of the store. This format of stores is found and works successfully in countries such as Austria (Soma), Canada (Not-for-profit Grocery Markets), Luxembourg (Croix-Rouge Buttek), Caritas Markt (Switzerland). Five years ago there were more than 1,000 social stores in Europe.
According to Eurostat, 38.8% of the population in Romania is exposed to the risk of poverty or social exclusion - the second highest percentage in the EU - 23.8% of the total population is represented by people affected by severe material deprivation, and 18.9% employees are at risk of poverty.
