Jeddah charities to repack food waste

JEDDAH: The Jeddah municipality has introduced several measures to ensure that restaurants, wedding halls, hotels and catering businesses reduce the amount of food wasted in the region.

Its sub-municipalities and branches have been working with various establishments to ensure that food leftovers are handled according to Islamic principles, said Mohammed Al-Buqami, spokesman for the Jeddah municipality.
Al-Buqami said that the owners of these businesses have agreed to contract charities and companies specializing in disposing of surplus food. They would repack leftovers fit for human consumption, he was quoted as saying by a local publication recently.
Expired or rotten food would be placed in sealed bags and disposed of in special containers. Failure to comply with these measures would see companies penalized, he said.
Al-Buqami said Jeddah generates about 6,000 tons of food waste a day. He called on residents to help the municipality deal properly with surplus food, especially to help people in need.
Experts have indicated that 13 million tons of food is thrown away every day in the Kingdom. If Saudis reduce this waste by 30 percent, it would bring down food prices by at least by 15 percent, and up to 50 percent for some perishable items, economists have indicated.
Before Ramadan, a study conducted by King Saud University estimated that 30 percent of the 4 million dishes prepared during the holy month would be discarded without even being eaten, worth SR1.2 million.
According to the World Food Program, hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life.