美国国家公共电台 NPR French Food Waste Law Changing How Grocery Stores Approach Excess Food

 

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

Food waste is a global problem. In developing countries, grocery stores are responsible for a lot of that waste. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports on how France is trying to change that.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking in French).

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE¹: Every morning at this Auchun supermarket in central Paris, Magdalena Dos Santos has a rendezvous² with Doudou, a driver from the French food bank. Dos Santos, who runs the deli section, is also in charge of supervising the store's food donations.

MAGDALENA DOS SANTOS: (Through interpreter) All of the freshly-prepared dishes that are one, two and three days from their expiration³ date - I set them aside for pickup⁴.

BEARDSLEY: Opening up in a giant fridge, Dos Santos shows what else the store is giving away - yogurt, pizza, fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese. But giving leftover⁵ food to charity is no longer just an act of goodwill⁶. It's a requirement under a 2016 law that bans grocery stores from throwing away edible⁷ food. Stores can also be fined $4,500 for each infraction⁸. Out back, on the store's loading dock, Doudou, whose full name is Ahmed Djerbrani, plunges⁹ a thermometer into a yogurt.

AHMED DJERBRANI: (Through interpreter) I take the temperature of a sample of dairy products to make sure they've been kept refrigerated.

BEARDSLEY: Djerbrani loads the food into his van and drives it across town to a church, which will distribute it to poor families. Gillaine Demeules is a volunteer with the St. Vincent de Paul charity.

GILLAINE DEMEULES: (Through interpreter) Tomorrow, we'll give people soup, sardines¹⁰, pasta and whatever fresh items they deliver us today, she says. We never know what they're going to bring.

BEARDSLEY: Five thousand charities across France depend on the food bank network, which gets nearly half of its donations from grocery stores. The new law has increased the quantity and quality of donations. There are more fresh foods and products farther away from their expiration date. Jacques Bailet is head of the French network of food banks. He says the law also did away with certain constraining¹¹ contracts between supermarkets and food manufacturers.

JACQUES BAILET: (Through interpreter) There was one food manufacturer that was not authorized¹² to donate the sandwiches it made for a particular supermarket brand, but now we get 30,000 sandwiches a month from them - sandwiches that used to be thrown away.

BEARDSLEY: Jonathan Bloom is the author of "American Wasteland," a book about food waste in the United States. He says he'd love to see the U.S. Congress pass a similar law, though he suspects America might need a slightly different approach.

JONATHAN BLOOM: The French version is quite socialist¹³, but I would say in a great way because you're providing a way where they have to do the beneficial thing, not only for the environment, but from an ethical¹⁴ standpoint of getting healthy food to those who need it and minimizing some of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions¹⁵ that come with food ends up in a landfill.

MCCAMMON: But the French law has actually encouraged the development of businesses that are helping¹⁶ grocery stores better manage their stocks and reduce their food waste.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Merci beaucoup de - thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking in French).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Speaking in French).

BEARDSLEY: Parliamentarian Guillaume Garot wrote the law. He believes the fight against food waste should be as important as other national causes. Garot says he's contacted by people all over the world who want to do the same thing.

GUILLAUME GAROT: (Speaking in French).

BAILET: "It's changed the supermarkets' practices," he says, "they're more attentive¹⁷ to their environment, and they give more." But most important, says Garot, is that a supermarket is now seen as more than just a profit center. It's a place where there has to be humanity.

BEARDSLEY: Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。

3 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。

4 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

5 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

6 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

7 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

8 infraction   

n.违反；违法

参考例句：

• He was criticized for his infraction of the discipline.他因违反纪律而受到了批评。
• Parking at the bus stop is illegal,Motorists committing this infraction are heavily fined.在公交站停车是违法的，触犯此条的司机将受重罚。

9 plunges   

n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• Even before he plunges into his program, he has his audience in his pocket. 他的节目甚至还没有出场，就已控制住了观众。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 'Monseigneur, he precipitated himself over the hill-side, head first, as a person plunges into the river.' “大人，他头冲下跳下山坡去了，像往河里跳一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

10 sardines   

n. 沙丁鱼

参考例句：

• The young of some kinds of herring are canned as sardines. 有些种类的鲱鱼幼鱼可制成罐头。
• Sardines can be eaten fresh but are often preserved in tins. 沙丁鱼可以吃新鲜的，但常常是装听的。

11 constraining   

强迫( constrain的现在分词 )； 强使； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• He was constraining his mind not to wander from the task. 他克制着不让思想在工作时开小差。
• The most constraining resource in all of these cases is venture capital. 在所有这些情况下最受限制的资源便是投入资本。

12 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

13 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

14 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

15 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。