How Many Prawns On Your Plate? 'Fix' Portions, Says Minister Ram Vilas Paswan

New Delhi: How many prawns or chicken pieces will be served to you in restaurants and hotels should be fixed, says Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, so no one will waste what they can't eat. The minister has therefore called a meeting with the food industry on deciding and standardizing food portions.

"I noticed when I went to restaurants that food was being wasted. We cannot see this happening in a country where there are so many poor. I asked the industry and restaurants to come for meeting and discuss if there is any legal provision to fix portions," Mr Paswan, the minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, told NDTV.

"(They should) write that in one portion, there will be three prawns...or four, whatever, so we know how much to order."

Asked whether this could be considered interference by the government, Mr Paswan clarified, "We don't want to control anything. We are doing this in the interest of consumers. We just want the portions to be uniform."

Restaurants have to give in writing, he continued, how much will be served in a portion, "whether one piece of chicken or two, one chapatti or two or one idli or two..."

The ministry is reportedly preparing a questionnaire that asks hotels and restaurants on how much they think they should serve and how much a customer can consume.

Calling it his "personal" initiative after restaurant visits, Mr Paswan denied that he had been spurred by the comments of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a recent edition of his monthly radio show Mann ki Baat.

PM Modi had expressed concern about food being wasted and urged citizens to "fight the menace and injustice". Sharing that many had spoken to him on this, he had also said, "We take more than required in our plate which we are not able to finish even. Ever considered that if we don't waste food, we can feed the poor?"