§ 76.002.Short Title

A short title, and the name states the condition the whole chapter turns on.

This chapter may be cited as the Good Faith Donor Act.

"Good faith" is the operative idea, not "donor". The chapter protects a person who donates apparently wholesome food in good faith; it does not protect indiscriminate disposal of food someone knew was unsafe.

The problem it addresses is a well documented one. Restaurants, grocers, caterers, and food manufacturers finish each day with edible surplus, and food banks want it. What stopped the transfer was liability: a donor who gave away food and made someone ill faced a claim, while a donor who threw it away faced nothing.

The rational choice was the bin, and the chapter changes that calculation.

The mechanism is the liability provision, which protects a donor of apparently wholesome food from civil liability arising from the condition of the food — subject to exceptions for gross negligence, recklessness, and intentional misconduct.

"Apparently wholesome food" is defined separately, and it is the other limit: food that meets quality and labelling standards even though it may not be readily marketable.

There is a federal equivalent. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act provides a national floor of protection for food and grocery donations, and it operates alongside this chapter rather than instead of it.

Related chapters extend the same reasoning to donated medical devices and to donated feminine hygiene products.