Battle against food wastage: Modi govt to curb portions in restaurants

Govt is drafting a questionnaire for restaurants to explain what dish sizes they should serve

A fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his concerns over wastage of food in his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme, the ruling NDA (National Democartic Alliance) government is planning to fix portion sizes of dishes served by star hotels and restaurants, according to a report published by the Hindustan Times.

"Ignoring the issue of food wastage is anti-social and this is injustice to the poor. Wastage of food is unfortunate. I know of several youngsters who are using technology to prevent wastage of food," PM Modi had said in Mann Ki Baat, Business Standard reported earlier. 

The consumer affairs, food and public distribution ministry is drafting a questionnaire for hotels and restaurants to explain what dish sizes they should serve to a customer.

Also Read: Govt to promote new technologies to reduce food wastage
 

“If a person can eat only two prawns, why should he or she be served six? If a person eats two idlis, why serve four! It’s wastage of food and also money people pay for something that they don’t eat,” said Ram Vilas Paswan, Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

“They are the experts. They should tell us the maximum amount of a dish a person can eat. You go to a Chinese restaurant; they give you so much (of food). We are going to call them (stakeholders) for a meeting. The PM is concerned about food wastage, so we are going to issue instructions to these hotels (about the amount of food to be served),” the minister further said to the national daily. 

He, however, clarified the instructions would be applicable to “standard hotels” and not dhabas that “usually serve thalis”.