A staff member presents a serving spoon at a Hunan cuisine restaurant in Yuelu District of Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, April 15, 2020. As the COVID-19 epidemic has been subdued, catering companies in Changsha have reopened recently under strict measures taken to ensure the food security. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)

 
Chinese lawmakers on Tuesday began deliberating a draft law on preventing food waste to ensure food security.

The 32-article draft was submitted to the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for its first reading.

The law is of great significance to promoting a healthy, rational and green lifestyle and way of consumption. It is also essential to accelerating the construction of a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society, and to sustainable economic and social development, according to an explanation submitted to the session.

Lawmakers elevate the effective policies and measures the country has adopted over the past years into the draft law in an effort to establish a long-term mechanism to prevent food waste, says the explanation.

The draft specifies the anti-food waste responsibilities of the government, catering service providers and individuals.

It also requires the establishment of a mechanism to combat food waste, in which various parts of society are involved, including industry associations, the education sector and the news media.