Student Employees who work for University Hospitality Services should be allowed to take left over food home

Working with a University Hospitality has caused me to realize how much we throw away at the end of the day. While me and other student employees are struggling to eat day to day and our paychecks go to our tuition instead of a decent meal. I was told it's a federal law to not take the food home but there should be an exception to student employees.