Bengaluru: When Karnataka Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader spoke about a policy on curbing food wastage and distributing leftovers to the urban poor, many welcomed the thought. Though it is still on the contemplation level, one could not but agree seeing the wastage of food in hotels and weddings, and how it can feed many urban poor. According to him, the government plans to rope in NGOs for collecting the leftovers from the marriage halls, event houses , hotels and restaurants for distribution among the poor.

According to a survey, annually, Bengaluru wastes 943 tonnes of quality food during weddings. That is enough to feed 2.6 crore people a normal Indian meal, a study by a team of 10 professors from the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru, has concluded.

It also reveals a few shocking numbers. About 84,960 marriages are held at 531 kalyana mantapas (marriage halls) in Bengaluru every year. About 943 tonnes of high-calorie quality food is wasted in these halls annually. At an average cost of Rs 40 per meal, the total food wastage in the city is estimated at Rs 339 crore. And this of course has gone up with time.

And coming to wastes in general, foodstuff accounts for 68 per cent. A waste characterisation study by a community group in three BBMP wards, HSR Layout, Gottigere and Konanakunte found that 60 per cent of the waste generated is cooked and uncooked food, besides raw vegetables. In such circumstances, it seems almost like a necessary step, but many believe otherwise.

“Though the thought is appreciable, implementation is much difficult. Especially, it is difficult to collect food stuff from weddings, store them properly and then distribute them efficiently. Wedding food is mostly prepared over a day, and it gets heated and reheated a number of times. So by the end of the wedding, it is important to store it in the right temperature for it to be ok for consumption. There are a chain of things that the government needs to monitor, before it reaches the end customer. There is no point feeding stale food and taking the blame of food poisoning – that can be fatal,” says Puneet Mehta, owner of Diamond Food and Decorators.

Agreeing to this is Triptee Chaudhary of Vivaah Yogg. “Collecting, packaging and distributing will be a task. It doesn’t seem realistic, given the ground situation in our country. It might backfire. We at our personal level, do distribute leftover wedding food in the nearby temple, and mind you, the urban poor are suspicious of the food.”