Ireland Minister Suggests Smaller Plate Portions, ‘Seconds’ at Restaurants to Reduce Food Waste

Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine of Ireland, Charlie McConalogue, has made an interesting suggestion to restaurants to try to cut down on food waste.

McConalogue, who is hoping to reduce the amount of food waste in Ireland, suggests that restaurants should offer ‘seconds’ to customers rather than large portions on plates. Currently, 30% of food goes to waste in Ireland and McConalogue would love to see businesses and households reduce that rate.

“The simple point I made, which is purely common sense in my view, is that rather than put too much on the plate, it will make sense to go and do seconds,” said McConalogue. “In my experience, it’s mixed in relation to food service. In terms of restaurants, sometimes you may be asking for more and there mightn’t be enough on the plate, but certainly, in many cases, there can be more on a plate as well.”

In 2021, statistics from the EPA suggested that households in Ireland threw away around 221,000 tonnes of food.

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