Committee hears proposal to extend donor-protections to pet food and supplies

Sen. Waldstreicher presented Senate Bill 314 to extend Maryland’s existing donor-protection framework for human-food donations to include pet food and pet supplies. Sponsors said the measure would grant the same liability protections to donors of pet food that retailers currently enjoy for human food, enabling shelters and pantries to accept otherwise-wasted pet food and supplies.

Katie Florian (Maryland SPCA) and other shelter leaders said demand for pet food pantries is acute. "Our Kibble Connection food pantry distributes more than 1.6 million meals to hungry pets in Baltimore," Ryan Silva of the Maryland SPCA said, describing the volume of need. Witnesses described routine retail waste—products unsellable for packaging or rebranding reasons—that shelters say could be redirected to families in need.

Sally Thomas, a long-time volunteer who works in a big-box store, told the committee a store manager told her that the company discarded pet food out of fear of liability. "Lack of protection against an extremely hypothetical, unlikely lawsuit leads to actual, real, tremendous loss," Thomas said, urging passage to remove that barrier.

Shelter and animal-welfare witnesses requested a favorable report and proposed that the bill preserve reasonable safety and handling standards while giving nonprofits legal assurance to accept donations. Supporters emphasized that the change would primarily move usable pet food from landfills to pantries and shelters that serve vulnerable families and help keep pets in homes.

No formal action was recorded in the transcript; the committee concluded the hearing after witnesses' testimony and member questions.

Why it matters: advocates said the bill would reduce waste, relieve pressure on shelters and help families avoid relinquishing pets for lack of food, while retailers would receive the same civil-protection incentives that encourage human-food donations.