Rep. Tarik Khan grew up in a household that let nothing go to waste. Now, the Philadelphia Democrat has sponsored a law that applies that principle to the world of food donations.

HB615 was signed into law on June 30th. The new law limits the lawsuit liability of companies and organizations that donate food. Currently, grocery stores and markets will throw out food once it reaches the “best by” date— even if the food is still safe to eat.

Companies error on the side of caution because they don’t want to get sued for donating bad food.

HB615 says food donors are immune from lawsuits, as long as they reasonably inspect food and determine its safe for people to eat.

All 203 state representatives and 50 state senators voted in favor the bill, which Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law.

 

A transcript of the full interview is below:

 

This was filmed in the morning of July 1, 2025. The weather was hot.

KARA JEFFERS, STATE GOVERNMENT REPORTER: "Hello. I'm Kara Jeffers here with Representative Tarik Khan. And we are going to take a break, and talk about a bill. You have something that deals with food donations. Talk about kind of the issue that we're seeing in food banks, food culture and the donations that are happening there?"

REP. TARIK KHAN (D-PHILADELPHIA), BILL SPONSOR: "Sure. So currently.. we [can] talk about the larger issue, or I could talk about the larger issue— is that in Pennsylvania, we have about 1.2 million Pennsylvanians, 1.2 million, who are going to bed hungry every night. And unfortunately, about a quarter of them are kids.

"So my family, they always said growing up, don't waste. My grandparents grew up during the Great Depression, and they said wasting is a sin. And so you don't waste things. And food is one of those things that we don't like to think that we waste. But actually, the number one item in landfills is commonly food, and often it's food that's still edible.

“… So for this bill, people that are particularly food donors, like grocery stores, that are actually throwing out canned goods and other goods that are considered like non perishable, that are slightly past or around their best by date.

"And the reason why they're doing that is even though that food is still definitely good, is that they're concerned about getting sued. So this, basically, our bill removes that liability. That says as long as the food is still edible, it has to be good food. You can't be doing any expired spoiled food— that is still illegal. But if the food is good and if it's slightly past the best by date, you can still donate it.

"And that is a lot of food. It is hundreds of thousands of tons of food that we're wasting that we can potentially save. And so, yeah. That was your question, right?"

JEFFERS: “That was- you answered two questions at once, which is amazing."

KHAN: "We're literally broadcasting on the surface of the sun today. And so my my calibration is a little off. It's my my apologies."

JEFFERS: "No, it's perfect. I guess you already talked about what your bill does. Has there been an issue with this? Have stores gotten sued in the past and like, did they bring this is like a, 'hey, we're having struggles with this'."

KHAN: "So I'm not a lawyer. My brother's a lawyer. And I know that a lot of the things that we do and don't do is because we are fear of getting sued. And so I can tell you as a nurse practitioner, there are tests that you order because you're pretty sure this is not what's going on, but you don't want to get sued. You don't want to miss the one in 1 million chance.

"Well unfortunately with foods, a lot of these companies like Giant, ShopRite, Super Fresh— they error on the side of not getting sued. And unfortunately that means that people who need food are not getting it.

And we hear all the time about food pantries struggling to keep their food stocked. I have patients that commonly used the food bank— we have a food bank at our at the health center— and you know, this is, these are people that are relying on these donations. And too often these food banks are empty. The store shelves are empty. And so why don't we just keep those stocked and let's not waste good food.

So the best by date also, I think, people should know is that this is really for grocers. This isn't like a scientist in a lab is like, 'OK, the next day this is going to expire, it has to be [used] on this day'. This is so that when they're getting new inventory, they know what's new and what's old because otherwise it's like it all looks the same.

It's the same label, it's the same can. And it's like is, you know, do we get this like three months ago or do we just get this? So it's really, a best buy date is really for grocers to know what to put up first. You put the old stuff out first.

But unfortunately, it's been interpreted as like expiration. 'You've got to eat by, you cannot consume, it's not safe after'. And so for this fear, the law just removes that liability so that these food donors are able to to donate.

We actually have had a lot of support for this bill. So the Food Merchants Association, they're supporting it, the food banks, the people who actually receive the food, they support it.

And so, you know, this also was a big bipartisan bill in previous sessions. It was introduced by Representative Melissa Shusterman and also David Rowe. Last session, I introduced it with Representative David Rowe. This session I introduced it with Representative Tom Jones.

So this historically has been bipartisan, and it showed in the votes. You know, in the House, it passed 203-0. In the Senate, it passed 50-0. And Governor Shapiro just signed it into law last night.

So we're really excited that this is actually going to help increase people's access to food. It's going to help us combat food insecurity. It's also going to help us with our climate crisis because, you know, it is a huge emitter of carbon when you're throwing out and having to create more and more food when you're just wasting good food.

So we don't need to expend that extra energy. Let's do what's common sense. Let's not do stupid stuff. And stupid stuff is like having to throw out things when you know they're so good. And I can tell you as someone who, by the way, who, like, worked at like Starbucks, this would happen all the time. It's like, why are we throwing out this? We know it's good. Oh, it's it's past, you know, it's closing time."

JEFFERS: "So will this cost Pennsylvania taxpayers anything?"

KHAN: "I believe this bill will actually in the end save taxpayers money, not costs taxpayer money, but actually save the money. Because again, this is less money that we have to spend on food donations. We're talking about good food that is being made available. And so it's going to relieve the strain on some of these food banks that are struggling. That also have to just bite the bullet and throw out food that, you know— cases of canned peas, that are one day over, you know, ‘best buy, June 30th’. It's July 1st. And you have to throw it out. Even when they know that it's it's safe.

"What happens is usually they tell the people that are receiving it, 'use this first' and people know that this is going to expire, use this first. We do the same thing with medications at the health center when we give a medication and and I give someone a supply of maybe a Tylenol, for example. And I know it's going to expire at the end of the month. I say this is going to expire at the end of the month. Make sure, you know, you use this first if you have another supply at home, you know, but use this first. And so this is really just a guide."

JEFFERS: “OK. Representative, thank you so much for your time.

KHAN: "Appreciate it."

JEFFERS: "This has been bill break, where we kind of put the spotlight on legislation that doesn't always get into the limelight."

KHAN: Exactly. And we're actually on the surface of the sun. And so we are definitely spotlighting this bill. House Bill 615, signed into law. Now law. There you go."