torsdag 13. august 2020

'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 speechpublished 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.

Quoting a poem, he said: “Who knows that of our meal in the dish, every grain comes after hard toil?” He added: “We should still maintain a sense of crisis about food security. The impact of this year’s Covid-19 pandemic has sounded the alarm.” The focus on food waste comes after weeks of mass flooding across the country wiped out crops, contributing to rising food prices – already higher after the Covid-19 outbreak paralysed the Chinese economy.