Food Rescue Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 7144 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7144 To amend the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to establish a national food rescue system through partnerships with food rescue organizations. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 16, 2026 Mr. Torres of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to establish a national food rescue system through partnerships with food rescue organizations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Food Rescue Act''. SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FOOD RESCUE SYSTEM. The Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 216. NATIONAL FOOD RESCUE SYSTEM. ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Food and Nutrition Service, shall establish and operate a national food rescue system to coordinate the recovery, processing, transportation, and distribution of surplus and donated food to emergency feeding organizations and food-insecure communities. ``(b) Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), food rescue organizations shall-- ``(1) identify sources of surplus or excess food across the agricultural, retail, manufacturing, and distribution sectors; ``(2) develop and maintain partnerships with nonprofit food rescue organizations, food banks, and local agencies to recover and distribute such food; ``(3) expand and strengthen logistics and infrastructure necessary for food rescue, including aggregation sites, transportation, cold-chain storage, and last-mile