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H.R. 3444: Food Recovery Act of 2017

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H.R. 3444: Food Recovery Act of 2017

115th Congress · introduced 2017-07-27 · Agriculture and Food · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

  1. Where it came from: introduced 2017-07-27 · official record
  2. Who proposed it: Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1] · what a sponsor is
  3. What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
  4. Where it stands now: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
  5. If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Food Recovery Act of 2017

Plain summary

Food Recovery Act of 2017 This bill provides funding and establishes requirements to reduce food waste and standardize date labeling on food. The bill authorizes grants or loans for activities related to: raising awareness about wasted food and food recovery efforts to reduce the quantity of wasted food, reducing food waste at schools and farms, and installing facilities that include composting or anaerobic digesters that use food or crop waste to produce energy. The bill provides funds for: (1) state storage and distribution costs under the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and (2) national media campaigns to decrease food waste. The bill also: establishes a Food Recovery Liaison within the Department of Agriculture (USDA), specifies that composting is eligible for support under USDA's conservation programs, expands the tax deduction for charitable contributions to include contributions of food inventory for nonprofit retail sales, expands the liability protections for the donation of food, and requires companies that receive federal food service contracts to donate surplus food to nonprofit organizations that assist food-insecure people. The bill requires date labels on food packaging to include the phrases "best if used by" to indicate food quality and "use by" to warn of food that may be unsafe to eat after a specified date. Labelers may include a quality date on packaging, but must include a safety date on ready-to-eat products. No one may prohibit the sale, donation, or use of a product based on passage of the quality date of the product.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Food Recovery Act of 2017

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)

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The strongest published arguments

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Alternatives

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1] · 31 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Mark Pocan (D-WI), Gwen Moore (D-WI), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Marc A. Veasey (D-TX), Alma S. Adams (D-NC), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Salud O. Carbajal (D-CA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Adam Smith (D-WA)

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1] reported raising $551,078 (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (1)
Bill
A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Record fed-us-cong115-hr3444 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115