Edible Food Recovery Agreements Under SB 1383: What They Cover

California’s SB 1383 regulations require large food businesses — “commercial edible food generators” — to arrange for their surplus edible food to be recovered, and to do it through a contract or written agreement. If you run a food bank, pantry or food rescue nonprofit, grocery stores, distributors, caterers and hotels may come to you asking to sign one. This page covers what the regulation requires, what these agreements typically address, and where to find CalRecycle’s free model. It lists common elements; it does not draft contract language.

Not legal advice. A summary of the regulation text and CalRecycle’s published materials, checked October 10, 2026. Have someone qualified review any agreement you sign, and confirm local requirements with your city or county.

What the regulation requires

• Generators must have an agreement. 14 CCR §18991.3(b): commercial edible food generators “shall arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed,” and shall comply “through a contract or written agreement with any or all of the following: (1) Food recovery organizations or services that will collect their edible food for food recovery. (2) Food recovery organizations that will accept the edible food that the commercial edible food generator self-hauls to the food recovery organization for food recovery.”
• Who and since when. Tier one generators (supermarkets, grocery stores of 10,000 square feet or more, food service providers, food distributors, wholesale food vendors) from January 1, 2022; tier two generators (larger restaurants, hotels with 200 or more rooms, health facilities with 100 or more beds, large venues and events, larger state agency cafeterias, local education agencies with an on-site food facility) from January 1, 2024 (§18991.3(a); definitions in §18982(a)(73) and (74)).
• No deliberate spoiling. §18991.3(e): a generator “shall not intentionally spoil edible food that is capable of being recovered by a food recovery organization or service.”
• The generator keeps the agreement and details about you. Under §18991.4 the generator must keep a list of the recovery organizations and services it works with, “a copy of contracts or written agreements,” and for each one: your name, address and contact information, “the types of food that will be collected by or self-hauled to” you, “the established frequency that food will be collected or self-hauled,” and the quantity recovered, “measured in pounds recovered per month.”
• Participation is voluntary for recovery organizations. CalRecycle’s page for food recovery organizations: “SB 1383 does not require food recovery organizations and services to participate.” Once you do have an agreement to collect or receive food directly from a generator, you keep the records in §18991.5 — see SB 1383 food recovery recordkeeping.

CalRecycle’s page for donors adds that because recovery organizations vary in what they can take, a generator may need agreements with more than one organization.

CalRecycle’s Model Food Recovery Agreement

CalRecycle publishes a free, editable Model Food Recovery Agreement (a Word document, revised January 25, 2021, prepared with HF&H Consultants and Diversion Strategies), linked from both its donor and food recovery organization pages. It includes a guidance section and option notes for each clause. Its own disclaimer says it is “for informational and example purposes only,” that “in the event of any conflict, the language in the regulations shall prevail,” and that it “does not constitute legal advice.” It is the natural starting point; start from it rather than from a blank page.

Elements an agreement typically covers

CalRecycle’s food recovery organizations page says generators’ agreements “can include” establishing a regular food donation or collection schedule, identifying allowable foods for donation, and cost-sharing options. The Model Food Recovery Agreement is organized into these sections:

1. Allowable foods — foods accepted or preferred, foods not accepted, and the conditions under which the recovery organization may refuse food (the model lists food safety concerns, improper storage, items not agreed on, lack of transport or storage capacity, and food not currently needed). The lists live in an attachment so they can change without re-signing.
2. Food safety requirements and protocols — both parties follow federal, state and local food safety rules; how recalls are communicated.
3. Transportation and storage — who transports (the recovery organization collects, or the generator self-hauls), pickup or drop-off windows, what happens with missed or delayed pickups, and “donation dumping” (unusable food, or food delivered after capacity is reached or outside the agreed window).
4. Equipment — if either side lends coolers, containers or thermal blankets: use, cleaning and return.
5. Documentation and recordkeeping — who records what (weight in pounds, food types, frequency, date, confirmation), how often it is shared and how long records are kept. The model notes that §§18991.4 and 18991.5 require pounds recovered per month.
6. Generator fees or financial contributions — the model shows options: a fee for service (per pickup, per pound or flat rate), a financial contribution, an in-lieu arrangement, a plain donation with no fee, or another funding mechanism.
7. Terms and conditions — contacts, effective date and term, termination and non-performance, force majeure, confidentiality, governing law (the model references the federal Bill Emerson and California Good Samaritan food donation acts — see our guide to the federal Good Samaritan Food Donation Act) and insurance.

The model’s attachments are: A, contacts (including the generator’s tier); B, acceptable and unacceptable foods and packaging/labeling; C, transportation and storage; D, equipment; E, definitions.

Questions worth settling before you sign

• Can you actually take the volume and food types at the agreed frequency, including cold storage?
• Who weighs the food, and whose number goes in both parties’ monthly records?
• What happens to food you reject, and how is a rejection documented?
• Who is the day-to-day contact on each side, separate from whoever signs?
• If the generator wants to claim the enhanced deduction for donated food, what written statement will you provide? See the food donation tax deduction.

Weighing is where most of the record work lands. Our free SB 1383 food recovery log gives you a monthly sheet with generator, pounds and food type, and per-generator monthly totals you can share with each generator.

Where PantryPOS fits

PantryPOS does not draft or store agreements. It keeps the records that follow from one: donor records (name, address, phone, email), each pickup received by donor and weight with category and delivery temperature, and a receiving CSV export for any month or date range that you can total by donor. For the wider picture see food rescue software; for grocery rescue reported to a Feeding America food bank, MealConnect grocery rescue receipts. $39 per location per month after a 30-day free trial, no card to start.

Sources (checked October 10, 2026)

• CalRecycle, SLCP final regulation text (PDF): §§18982(a)(73), (74); 18991.3; 18991.4; 18991.5.
• Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14, §18991.3 – Commercial Edible Food Generators and §18991.4 – Recordkeeping Requirements for Commercial Edible Food Generators (Cornell LII).
• CalRecycle, Model Food Recovery Agreement (Word, revised 1/25/2021).
• CalRecycle, Mandated food donors and Food recovery organizations and services.

This guide summarizes California regulations and CalRecycle materials as published on October 10, 2026. It is not legal advice and does not provide contract language. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction and have any agreement reviewed before signing.