India to fix food intake for customers at hotels, restaurants

The Indian government is planning to alter portions of dishes served by hotels and restaurants in the country.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the initiative follows a food wastage concern expressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio programme.

“If a person can eat only two prawns, why should he or she be served six," said Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution. "If a person eats two idlis, why serve four! It’s wastage of food and also money people pay for something that they don’t eat."



The ministry is drafting a survey for hotels and restaurants to explain dish proportions they should serve to customers.

“They are the experts. They should tell us the maximum amount of a dish a person can eat. You go to a Chinese restaurant; they give you so much [of food]. We are going to call them [stakeholders] for a meeting. The PM is concerned about food wastage and so we are going to issue instructions to these hotels [about the amount of food to be served],” Paswan said.

The instructions, he added, will apply to “standard hotels” and not dhabas that "usually serve thalis".