UK restaurants waste 600,000 tons of food a year...

Super-sized restaurant portions are contributing to an annual waste mountain that sees chefs throw away hundreds of thousands of tons of food that is fit to eat, new research has shown.

Britain's restaurants throw away more than 600,000 tons of food each year, or 22 tons per eatery, which means that half a kilo of food is wasted every time someone eats out, according to the first detailed waste snapshot of the sector.

Nearly one-third of all wasted food comes back from customers' plates, suggesting that British restaurateurs are following the lead set by their American counterparts and serving portions that are too large. The bulk of the rest is thrown away during the preparation stage, according to a report published by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), a new body set up by a clutch of restaurateurs including Henry Dimbleby, of the seasonal fast-food chain Leon, and Mark Sainsbury, co-owner of the Zetter hotel in east London. More...

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