Saudi Arabia has been ranked as the topmost food-wasting country in the world, Saudi Gazette reported.
Around 30 per cent of food produced is wasted, amounting to over SAR49 billion annually, said a report issued by the the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.
The average Saudi wastes 250kg of food annually compared to the global average of 115kg.
Leftovers during dinner parties, weddings, restaurants, and hotel buffets make up a major bulk of the overall quantity of wasted food.
Saudi Arabia has the highest consumption of grains in the world where the average citizen consumes 158kg annually compared to the global average of 145kg per person.
The Shoura Council is mulling plans to review a law to combat food waste and squandering later this year
The law would seek penalties on individuals and organisations with regards to food waste, such as enforcing a fee on restaurant-goers who leave unfinished plates.
The Social Affairs Committee of the Shoura Council also proposes to establish a national centre to limit food waste by offering guidance and awareness campaigns.
Currently, there is no law in place that fines individuals on food waste.
Some of the major causes of food waste are low awareness in society, hosts’ tendency to show off to guests and often some restaurants and hotels that have poor organisation related to curbing food waste, according to Abdullah Al Darbah, the CEO of Saudi Food Bank "Etaam" in Makkah.
Considered the first Saudi food bank, it offers a service at 48-hour notice to individuals and organisations by either collecting leftovers in meal boxes in a hygienic manner or recycling food.
The Saudi Food Bank announced since the start of Ramadan its latest initiative of providing 1,740,000 meals to needy families by 360 volunteers.
Throughout the year, the organisation saves an average of 9,000 meals per day.
So far it has served six million meals. Their visits to hotels, food courts, weddings, and other occasions have saved around six million meals so far.
In 2017, 49 tonnes of leftover food equal to 144,000 meals was stored from Red Sea Mall’s food court restaurants.
Meanwhile, health problems among Saudis are prevalent where 59.4 per cent of the population suffers from overweight and obesity problems and 23.9pc are diabetic. Additionally, 40.5pc have hypertension.
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