New Law in China Prohibits Mukbangs and Wasting Food

May 10, 2021

China has enforced a law that will prohibit people from ordering too much food at restaurants and filming mukbangs.

About the law: The anti-food waste law, which came into effect last week, is part of a “food-saving campaign” that started last year, according to Vice.

President Xi Jinping stated that food waste was a “distressing” problem that “threatened China’s food security.”
Restaurants may be charged up to $1,550 for “misleading consumers into ordering excessive amounts of food.”
TV stations and media outlets may be fined up to $16,000 if they are caught filming or broadcasting mukbang videos.

Measures being taken: Unilad reported that China is reducing food waste after the United Nations’ World Food Programme predicted COVID-19 would result in starvation and food shortages for tens of millions of people.

Restaurants are being encouraged to follow the “N-1” policy, meaning that the “number of dishes should be less than the number of guests.”
Businesses have adapted by serving smaller portions, and one restaurant has even started weighing customers in order to base food recommendations on each customer’s weight.
Mukbang videos have already been taken down from social media sites and apps such as Douyin.

Recent violations: Regulators have already started warning citizens about food waste, Vice reported.

A bakery in Nanjing received a warning on Tuesday after tossing pastries that “did not look nice or could not be sold on the same day they were made.”
A boy group contest was canceled by the government after fans were urged to purchase milk products in support of their idols. Some of these fans wasted the products by disposing of them instead of drinking.

Featured Images via Andrea Piacquadio

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