Waste not, want not(2)

New measures have been instituted by the central government in an attempt to curb this. In late December, 2012, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced that spending public funds on banquets was prohibited and the Central Military Commission said at almost the same time that military banquets would be banned, as would alcohol at receptions.

As many departments dropped their plans to hold year-end celebration banquets or changed the venues to less expensive alternatives, some just moved high-level banquets from restaurants to their own buildings, the Beijing News reported.

The government employee said that some banquet facilities are also helping conceal the extent of spending on wining and dining, by providing multiple invoices showing other expenses.

Jiang Ming'an, an anti-graft expert from Peking University, is skeptical that this kind of non-government campaign will be able to change government habits.

"Despite the central government's orders urging frugal working styles, some local governments are able to create fake spending invoices," Jiang added.

Zhao said that growing wealth gave people bigger appetites than they would usually have and when using public funds they care less about price and more about the decorations of the food.

"The only measure that could prevent them from over-spending or abusing their privileges would be to make public spending transparent," Jiang told the Global Times.

A cook from Zhao's restaurant told the Global Times that decorations are very important in fancy restaurants, where customers want to show their status through the dishes they order.

"However, those vegetables used as decorations are often not eaten and sometimes can only be used once before being dumped," the cook told the Global Times.

Food security crisis

According to data from the General Administration of Customs, China's grain imports have been increasing on a yearly basis due to increasing pressures on China's domestic grain supply.

As China's urbanization process continues, arable land available for farming is decreasing, as is the number of farmers. This means the grain supply is not going to be sufficient to feed the increasing population, said Zheng Fengtian, a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the Renmin University of China.

Yuan Longpin, one of China's most renowned agricultural scientists, attributes some of the blame to food waste.

He said that China has worked hard for increases in the grain harvest but much of that was wasted, as China Central Television reported last week. He even went as far as to suggest criminalizing food waste.

Yuan made the remarks after the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization launched a global campaign on January 22, targeting consumers, governments and the food industry to help reduce the 1.3 billion tons of food wasted around the world every year.

Zheng said that food waste impacts the production of greenhouse gas emissions and consequently affects climate change.

He said plenty of resources like water, fertilizers, energy, and labor that have been invested to produce food are all wasted each time food is wasted.

Meanwhile, with less food being wasted, sorting waste would be easier and there would be fewer concerns over health issues such as the spread of gutter-oil made from kitchen waste, Zheng said.