Chinese officials have urged a clampdown on food waste in restaurants as wining and dining in China’s booming city of Shanghai alone leaves up to 1,100 tons of food a day, state press said Sunday. Businessmen and their banquets are the main culprits in over ordering and wasting food, as bosses fearful of losing face make sure that their guests have more food than they can eat, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Each day, we collect two huge vats of leftovers from the tables – 30 kilos at least,” said Liu Dafeng, manager of the Shanghai Families restaurant chain.
“About 30 percent of the food is never touched.”
A recent survey revealed that 81 percent of Chinese diners cannot finish all their food and 28 percent never take their leftovers home, the report said.
The survey also found that men aged between 30 and 40 are the most extravagant at dinner tables — they order excessively and do not take away the leftovers, it said.
China’s food and beverage sector reported 748.6 billion yuan (93.6 billion dollars) in retail sales in 2005, about 7 percent of the country’s GDP, it said.
Though no official statistics are available, the report estimated that Chinese are probably wasting 60 billion yuan a year at hotels and restaurants.
In Shanghai, the 1,100 tons of food waste a day at the city’s hotels and restaurants not only badly reflects efforts at eradicating poverty, but has also become an environmental problem, the report said.
The amount of waste has led the government to kick off a “green” campaign urging restaurants to persuade customers not to over order and to take their leftovers home in environmentally friendly containers, it said.
Source: Agence France-Presse
