'Operation empty plate': Xi Jinping makes food waste his next target
'Operation empty plate': Xi Jinping makes food waste his next target, The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has launched a campaign targeting a new enemy of the country: food waste.
“Waste is shameful and thriftiness is honourable,” Xi said in a speech published on Tuesday, describing the amount of food that goes to waste in the country as “shocking and distressing”, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
In Chongqing, the Federation of Industry and Commerce issued a statement promising to implement Xi’s guidance, setting up LED screens with prompts to “establish a frugal consumption reminder system”, as well as measures to “supervise consumers to eat frugally”.
Reporters on Chongqing Daily were dispatched to several restaurants where they concluded that “food waste is still common”. “Four people ordered eight dishes, but not all of them were eaten,” a headline in the paper said on Tuesday.
In a country where it is seen as polite to order more than the amount needed, “operation empty plate” will encounter difficulties. Meals are often served family-style with shared dishes and hosts tend to order more dishes than the number of diners in the group.
In his speech, Xi called for strengthening legislation, supervision, and long-term measures as well as better public education to “resolutely stop food waste”. A report in 2015 by the China Academy Science and partners found that up to 18 million tonnes of food a year was wasted in large cities, enough to feed 30 to 50 million people a year.
Under an article on Wuhan’s N-1 dining initiative by the official People’s Daily, internet users on Weibo left sceptical and in some cases angry comments. “Can you first limit the dining of officials? Don’t always take away from the people,” one said, referring to formal banquets and lavish meals held by officials.
One user, alluding to the economic difficulties many in the country are facing, said: “This seems aimed at us bottom class, but we are already thrifty. This will mean nothing to the rich.” Another said: “I especially hate this kind of political action that leans on ordinary people to act.”
Another wrote: “This level of control. Even the number of dishes people order has to be regulated?”
Additional reporting by Pei Wu Lin
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