Oklahoma § 76-5.6 - Food donations - Civil and criminal liability – Options

§ 76-5.6. Food donations - Civil and criminal liability – Options

for safe food donation - Regulation of use - Definitions.

A. Any donor who makes a good-faith donation of food which is

at the time of donation fit for human consumption to a charitable

organization or nonprofit corporation shall not be liable for

damages in any civil suit or subject to criminal prosecution for any

injury resulting from the nature, age, condition or packaging of the

donated food, unless the injury or death is a direct result of the

gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct of the

donor.

B. Information shall be posted with the State Department of

Health on its website under the existing heading "Protective Health"

within a new section labeled "Options for Safe Food Donation" with

hyperlinks to Section 5.6 of Title 76 of the Oklahoma Statutes,

Section 5-601 et seq. of Title 2 of the Oklahoma Statutes, Oklahoma

Administration Code Title 310: Chapter 257, 42 U.S.C., Section 1791,

and to the website of Oklahoma State University's Robert S. Kerr

Food and Agriculture Products Center. The State Department of

Health shall also have hyperlinks to the Oklahoma Department of

Wildlife Conservation's "Hunters Against Hunger" webpage, and the

special licensing page created by the Oklahoma Department of

Agriculture, Food, and Forestry. The Oklahoma Department of

Agriculture, Food, and Forestry shall also post on its website in a

new section labeled "Options for Safe Food Donation" with hyperlinks

to Section 5.6 of Title 76 of the Oklahoma Statutes, Section 5-601

et seq. of Title 2 of the Oklahoma Statutes, Oklahoma Administration

Code Title 310: Chapter 257, 42 U.S.C., Section 1791, to the website

of Oklahoma State University's Robert S. Kerr Food and Agriculture

Products Center, and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife

Conservation's "Hunters Against Hunger" webpage. Additionally, the

Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry shall have a

webpage on the special licensing.

C. This section shall apply to all good-faith donations of

perishable or nonperishable food which is not readily marketable due

to appearance, freshness, grade or other conditions.

D. This section shall not restrict the authority of any

appropriate agency to regulate or ban the use of such food for human

consumption.

E. For purposes of this section:

1. "Donor" means any person, profit or nonprofit food

distributor, or person who harvests perishable foods who makes a

good-faith donation of food;

2. "Good-faith donation" means a gift conferred without

condition or consideration;

3. "Charitable organization" means any benevolent,

philanthropic, patriotic, eleemosynary, educational, social, civic,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 76. Torts

recreational or religious group or association or any other person

performing or purporting to perform acts beneficial to the public;

4. "Nonprofit corporation" means a corporation formed for a

purpose not involving pecuniary gain to its shareholders or members,

paying no dividends or other pecuniary remuneration, directly or

indirectly, to its shareholders or members as such, and having no

capital stock; and

5. "Food" includes any packaged, prepared, perishable or

nonperishable food item.

Added by Laws 1981, c. 9, § 1, emerg. eff. April 6, 1981. Amended

by Laws 2013, c. 339, § 3, emerg. eff. May 29, 2013; Laws 2024, c.

222, § 7, eff. Sept. 15, 2024.