'doggy bag' requirement in France - myth or reality?

[Julia Szulecka]

Dear Food Waste Studies Group members,

I read an interesting article (Beizer 2017) that suggests that the ‘doggy bag’ requirement in France is a myth.

If there are any experts on France in the group, I would be very interested in your perspective on that issue. The article is already 5 years old, I assume that the ‘doggy bag’ norm could become more widespread. But I would be very interested in all comments or literature recommendations on that.

Here is a reference and some argumentation that really surprised me.

Beizer, J. (2017). Why the French hate doggie bags. Contemporary French Civilization, 42(3-4), 373–389. doi:10.3828/cfc.2017.22

Let’s start with the myth. Many French believe that a law passed in December 2015 decreed that beginning 1 January 2016, it became mandatory for restaurants to provide diners with a bag or container to take home any unfinished part of their meal. It is not surprising that this is a common popular belief, because it has been circulated by various erroneous news reports in France (some of which subsequently issued corrections) and echoed by the American press. Some accounts further specify that this law applies to restaurants serving over 150 meals a day (or 180 according to other reports). But in fact there is no such law. What was passed in December of 2015 is other legislation pertaining to restaurants whose biodegradable waste output reaches a certain threshold (10 tons a year, roughly recalculated in terms of 150–200 meals per day) and whose goal is indeed also to combat waste, on another level and in different ways: the triage and ecological disposal of unused alimentary matter. Though certain measures have been taken to discourage the wasteful practice of relegating food remaining on individual diners’ restaurant plates to the trash, and although many restaurateurs voluntarily comply with recommendations to provide the means to send leftovers home with customers, there is in fact to date no law that restaurants must do this.

I am very interested in your opinions.

Best regards,

Julia Szulecka

Researcher

TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture

University of Oslo