People urged to shun food waste

RIYADH: Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammad Al-Mutlaq, member of the council of senior scholars and Ifta permanent committee, as also advisor at the royal court, urged people to check extravagance and waste of food at home and during functions, including marriages or any other social gathering.
Speaking on the “Fatawa” program on channel one, Al-Mutlaq warned against the spread of various manifestations of extravagance and waste, saying: “We have the problem of extravagance in eating and cooking. Many families cook an item even it does not eat half of it. Therefore, half or even more goes to the garbage.
“Some say that they give it to workers or servants. Even on big occasions, it is given to various organizations to preserve these food items. But why not cook only as much as we eat? People should learn from the Quranic verse, “eat and drink and do not indulge in extravagance. He does not like those who indulge in extravagance.”
Al-Mutlaq said that that gluttony and extravagance is exhibited by ignorant people.
“There are people in some countries who need it, but we are wasting it,” he said, underlining that many of his countrymen indulge in unhealthy eating habits, consuming many carbohydrates, sugars and fats, which “is unhealthy. Most part of your food is fat and it causes diseases,” he said, urging giving the extra food to people, like foreign workers, who can barely make ends meet.