An expert committee, set up by the Consumer Affairs Ministry to check food wastage at social gatherings, is scheduled to hold the first meeting on June 23.
"The committee on food wastage will meet on June 23," the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K V Thomas has said.
On June 2, the ministry had constituted a 15-member committee, headed by Consumer Affairs Secretary Rajiv Aggarwal, to deliberate and suggest possible ways and means to check food wastage.
Senior bureaucrats from various states and consumer activists, among others, are members of the panel.
The
term of reference for the expert panel is to explore various options for introducing legislative and administrative measures in due course.
The panel will also suggest awareness programmes and campaigns on curbing food wastage.
Besides, it will examine how the government and the public sector units can set an example by practicing austerity.
Citing reason for setting up the committee, the ministry had said that concern has been voiced time to time on the wastage of food items and ostentatious behaviour witnessed especially during occasions like marriages, parties and meetings.
"It has been estimated that about 15 to 20 per cent of food is just wasted in our country at social gatherings," it added.