China launches legislative action in an effort to curb food wasting
A food blogger livestreams from a restaurant. China’s video platforms will punish users found wasting food after President Xi Jinping stressed that food wasting has to be curbed.
The Legislative Affairs Commission of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee has set up a special group to start legislative work to stop food wasting, an official of the commission said on Thursday.
The move follows President Xi Jinping’s recent requirement to resolutely put an end to food wasting and promote thrift.
Xi stressed in a recent directive enhancing legislation and supervision, taking effective measures and establishing a long-term mechanism to stop food wasting.
Calling the issue of food waste shocking and distressing, Xi highlighted the need to maintain a sense of crisis regarding food security, amid the fallout of the COVID-19 epidemic, and despite the fact that China has had consecutive bumper harvests.
It is necessary to further enhance public awareness of the issue, effectively cultivate thrifty habits and foster a social environment where waste is shameful and thriftiness is applaudable, Xi said.
Regional catering groups responded to Xi’s call by embracing an “N-1 policy” — urging groups of customers to order one dish fewer than the number of diners at a table.
The campaign also suggests restaurants serve smaller or half-portions for lone diners.
A 2018 report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the average restaurant diner wasted 93 grams of food every meal, contributing to the 18 million tons of food large cities throw away every year.
China’s biggest short-video and social media platforms said they will punish users seen to be wasting food in their broadcasts, cracking down on so-called “big stomach kings,” who have gained hordes of fans in recent years by eating large amounts of food in a short time.
Short-video platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, said users searching for keywords such as “eating broadcast” or “big stomach kings” would now be shown prompts urging them to “reject waste and eat reasonably.”
“With respect to any actions that waste food, once discovered, the platform will at the first moment impose penalties according to the degree of the violations,” Douyin said in a statement, without specifying.
“We call on users to cherish food,” it said.
Another short-video platform Kuaishou said on Thursday it would shut down any live broadcasts or ban accounts if users were found to be promoting the eating of large amounts or encouraging vomiting to eat more. “We call on users to not overeat while creating,” Kuaishou said.
China’s popular Twitter-like Weibo platform said that it would restrict videos that posted similar content and urged eating bloggers to promote a correct concept of consumption.
Xi has attached great importance to food security and repeatedly called for promoting the social custom of practicing thrift and opposing waste. He has stressed the need to stop food waste on many occasions.
In January 2013, he made an instruction on the issue and has since given multiple instructions requiring efforts including forceful institutional constraints, strict compliance with systems, strong supervision and inspection and severe punishment mechanisms to effectively curb various violations of rules, disciplines and laws regarding the consumption using public funds.
He also gave specific requirements for reducing waste in schools and promoting students’ awareness.
