SB 1383 Food Recovery Recordkeeping: What a Food Recovery Organization Has to Record

California’s SB 1383 regulations (the Short-Lived Climate Pollutants rules, Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, Division 7, Chapter 12) require large food businesses to arrange for their surplus edible food to be recovered, and they put a short, specific recordkeeping duty on the food recovery organizations and services that take that food. This guide sets out exactly what the regulation text says, who it applies to, the yearly report your city or county will ask for, and a record layout that covers it.

Not legal advice. This is a plain-language summary of the regulation text and CalRecycle’s published guidance, checked October 10, 2026. Your city or county enforces these rules and may add its own requirements (a reporting deadline, a form, a retention period). Confirm with your jurisdiction before relying on it.

Who the rules apply to

The regulations (14 CCR §18982(a)) define the parties:

• Food recovery organization (§18982(a)(25)): an entity that collects or receives edible food from commercial edible food generators and distributes it to the public, directly or through other entities — including food banks, nonprofit charitable organizations and nonprofit charitable temporary food facilities as defined in the Health and Safety Code. Food pantries, soup kitchens and food rescue nonprofits usually fall here.
• Food recovery service (§18982(a)(26)): a person or entity that collects and transports edible food from a commercial edible food generator to a food recovery organization or other entities for food recovery. Many food rescue groups are both: they pick up and they distribute.
• Tier one commercial edible food generators (§18982(a)(73)): supermarkets; grocery stores of 10,000 square feet or more; food service providers; food distributors; wholesale food vendors. Required to comply from January 1, 2022 (§18991.3(a)).
• Tier two commercial edible food generators (§18982(a)(74)): restaurants with 250 or more seats or 5,000 square feet or more; hotels with an on-site food facility and 200 or more rooms; health facilities with an on-site food facility and 100 or more beds; large venues; large events; state agency cafeterias with 250 or more seats or 5,000 square feet or more; local education agencies with an on-site food facility. Required to comply from January 1, 2024 (§18991.3(a)).

The duty runs mainly to the generators. Under §18991.3(b) a generator must arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed, through a contract or written agreement with food recovery organizations or services that collect its food, or with food recovery organizations that accept food the generator self-hauls. A recovery organization is not required to take part: CalRecycle’s page for food recovery organizations says “SB 1383 does not require food recovery organizations and services to participate.” The recordkeeping below applies once you have such an agreement. What an agreement usually covers is in edible food recovery agreements under SB 1383.

What a food recovery organization must record (§18991.5(a)(2))

§18991.5(a) applies to “a food recovery organization or service that has established a contract or written agreement to collect or receive edible food directly from commercial edible food generators pursuant to Section 18991.3(b).” A food recovery organization “shall maintain a record of”:

1. “The name, address and contact information for each commercial edible food generator that the organization receives edible food from.”
2. “The quantity in pounds of edible food received from each commercial edible food generator per month.”
3. “The name, address and contact information for each food recovery service that the organization receives edible food from for food recovery.”

What a food recovery service must record (§18991.5(a)(1))

A food recovery service “shall maintain a record of”:

1. “The name, address and contact information for each commercial edible food generator that the service collects edible food from.”
2. “The quantity in pounds of edible food collected from each commercial edible food generator per month.”
3. “The quantity in pounds of edible food transported to each food recovery organization per month.”
4. “The name, address and contact information for each food recovery organization that the service transports edible food to for food recovery.”

That is the whole state list. Notice what it does not say: §18991.5 does not list food types, temperatures or a retention period, and it is pounds per generator per month, not per pickup. (The generator’s own records under §18991.4 do include the types of food and the established pickup frequency for each recovery organization, which is why agreements usually spell those out.) Many organizations keep more than the minimum anyway — per-pickup weights are how you get a reliable monthly total — and your jurisdiction’s ordinance may ask for more.

The yearly report to your city or county

The reporting duty is written as an instruction to jurisdictions. 14 CCR §18994.2(h)(2)(A): “A jurisdiction shall require food recovery organizations and services that are located within the jurisdiction and contract with or have written agreements with commercial edible food generators pursuant to Section 18991.3(b) to report the amount of edible food in pounds recovered by the service or organization in the previous calendar year to the jurisdiction.” The jurisdiction then reports the total to CalRecycle (§18994.2(h)(3)).

• Where: CalRecycle’s page says the report goes “to the jurisdiction where their primary address is physically located.”
• When and how: the regulation does not set a date or a form for your report; your city or county sets them, usually in its organic waste ordinance. Ask the city or county’s SB 1383 or solid waste contact.
• Capacity questions: separately, counties and cities must estimate edible food recovery capacity and consult recovery organizations; under §18992.2(b)(1), “Entities contacted by a jurisdiction shall respond to the jurisdiction within 60 days regarding available and potential new or expanded capacity.”
• Inspections: §18995.1(a)(2) has jurisdictions, beginning January 1, 2022, “conduct inspections of Tier One commercial edible food generators and food recovery organizations and services for compliance with this chapter.” Your monthly record is what an inspector looks at.

If you keep the monthly pounds per generator, the yearly report is a sum of twelve months.

A practical record template

Two simple tables cover §18991.5 for an organization, and the same layout works for a service with one extra column.

1. Contacts list (one row per generator, and one per food recovery service that brings you food):

2. Monthly pounds log (one row per pickup or delivery, totalled per generator per month):

Our free SB 1383 food recovery log builds exactly this: a printable monthly sheet and a CSV you can open in Excel or Google Sheets, with per-generator monthly totals calculated for you. CalRecycle also publishes an optional Excel Edible Food Recovery Recordkeeping Tool for Food Recovery Organizations and Food Recovery Services; CalRecycle notes “the use of this specific tool is optional.”

Where PantryPOS fits

PantryPOS is food pantry and food bank software. For SB 1383 it holds the inputs; it does not file the report for you, and it has no built-in “SB 1383 report” screen. What it actually does today:

• Donor records with name, type, address, phone and email — the generator contact list.
• Receiving by donor and weight: every pickup logged on the Receive screen carries the donor, pounds by category, delivery temperature and a lot record.
• A receiving CSV export for any month or date range, one row per lot with the date, donor, source, category and pounds. Sum the pounds column by donor (a pivot table does it in seconds) and you have pounds per generator per month; sum twelve months for the yearly report.
• For grocery rescue reported through MealConnect, it groups pickups into one receipt per store per day — see MealConnect grocery rescue receipts.

It does not have a dedicated field for the food recovery service that hauled a load, and it does not plan routes or dispatch drivers. More on the records food rescue runs on: food rescue software. Generators also ask about liability and tax: see the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and the food donation tax deduction. PantryPOS is $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), linked from CalRecycle’s SB 1383 page: §§18982(a)(25), (26), (73), (74); 18991.3; 18991.4; 18991.5; 18992.2(b)(1); 18994.2(h); 18995.1(a)(2).
• Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14, §18991.5 – Food Recovery Services and Organizations and §18994.2 – Jurisdiction Annual Reporting (Cornell LII copies of the California Code of Regulations).
• CalRecycle, Food recovery organizations and services and Mandated food donors.
• CalRecycle, Edible Food Recovery Recordkeeping Tool for Food Recovery Organizations and Food Recovery Services (Excel).

This guide summarizes California regulations and CalRecycle guidance as published on October 10, 2026. It is not legal advice. Your city or county enforces SB 1383 locally and may set additional requirements; confirm with your jurisdiction.