Left to the NDA government, now the portion of food that you order when you eat out, such as idlis or chicken or fish, will be fixed in an effort to prevent food wastage.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told the media that food wastage cannot go on in a country “where there are so many poor”. He said he had called a meeting of the hotel and restaurant industry to discuss the matter and may issue instructions soon.

When asked by a TV channel, Paswan said he would discuss if there was any legal provision to fix portions and added that it should be clearly written (on menu cards) if there will be three prawns or four, the number of chicken pieces, chapattis or idlis, so that people know how much to order. Incidentally, several hotels and restaurants already follow this practice wherein the portions are broadly defined, or are disclosed when asked for by the consumer.

Preparing questionnaire

It is learnt that the Food Ministry is preparing a questionnaire for hotels and restaurants to assess how much should be served and how much is consumed on an average.

Paswan said this was his “personal” initiative following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio broadcast, Mann Ki Baat , wherein he lamented the amount of food wasted in the country.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW