To address rice wastage; NFA-Bohol advocates for ‘Be Riceponsible’

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — The National Food Authority in Bohol shared the public lament on the wastage of rice, especially with the trending promotion of unlimited rice by some restaurants.

NFA Provincial Manager Peng Evasco, however, said she understands that Filipinos are rice eaters. “What the NFA can do is just to advocate to the consumers, the “Be Riceponsible” slogan. NFA can only advocate for consumers to just place on their plates what they can actually consume to avoid left-over of rice.”

Evasco cited the advocacy of former administrator of NFA, now 3rd district Representative Arthur Yap, who called on restaurants to offer half cup serving of rice. “It was done during the time when the customers had no choice but to order one cup rice even if they knew they could barely consume it all,” she said.

Evasco’s opinion was sought on the matter following the public statement of Senator Cynthia Villar, calling the public to prevent from consuming too much rice for health reasons. Villar’s statement had been interpreted as a prelude to a legislation that would ban unlimited rice servings in restaurants.

On this, the senator made a follow up statement, clarifying that she had no plan of drafting a bill banning unli-rice and that all she wanted to express was the concern on the effect of too much consumption of rice to the body.

Evasco cited Yap’s advocacy during his stint as NFA administrator for half-cup servings in restaurants as an effective way to underline Villar’s point. She said that it must also be considered that not all rice eaters can consume one cup serving in a particular meal.

She also cited the usual trend in fiestas where guests would put too much food on the plate only to leave a considerable amount of it over for no one to finish.

She also agreed to the observation that this habit is also noticeable in buffets, which could be the reason for some restaurants to implement clean plate policy where customers leaving food over are fined.

Evasco also shared that all restaurants have their standards not to giveaway left-over food to avoid being liable for any consequence. (FREEMAN)