Shenzhen is considering to draft the city’s civility regulations with a new provision to prevent excessive food waste, the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau said.
The behavior of restaurants in reducing food waste will be included in regulatory daily checks. Those showing serious food waste behaviors will be degraded, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
Shenzhen now implements a three-class evaluation system on restaurants. Those rated “A” are in the top class.
Supervisory departments will require restaurants to post reminders to customers about not wasting food, show exact food amounts on menus, and encourage customers to not overorder food.
In addition, a measure is being considered to expose behaviors that lead to excessive food waste on the city’s social credit website. Related industries are reported to have begun building a long-term mechanism to prevent food waste.
The city’s market supervisory bureau has worked with the commerce bureau and the spiritual civilization construction office, planning to include into the civility regulations related obligations of citizens, restaurants, online ordering platforms, government departments, organizations and companies.
Wang Wenhui, executive director of Shenzhen Restaurants Association, said that the association has sent out a proposal to all association members to encourage them to reduce food waste in daily practices.
At the same time, the association has encouraged digital management of food purchasing and storage to reduce waste and unnecessary inventory.
Liu Yongzhong, deputy director of Shenzhen Cuisine Association, said that their association has encouraged restaurants and food companies to provide food in a smaller serving size and to guide customers to order reasonable amounts of food.