Aiming to cut food wastage during festivity

GEORGE TOWN:

With less than 10 days to go before Thaipusam, the public has been reminded not to waste food during the celebration on Jan 21.

“Take only what you need, and come back if you need more. Do not collect packets of food and later throw them away. If you can’t finish the food, take it home to eat later,” said Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) education officer N.V. Subbarow at the entrance of the Hilltop Temple yesterday.

He said tonnes of food was wasted daily in Malaysia.

Subbarow also advised thaneer panthal (refreshment stall) operators to hand out food only to those who needed them rather than to randomly give the food out.

“This is a religious festival and the food handed out during Thaipusam is blessed at the temple or at the altar of the refreshment stalls itself.

“While CAP lauds the noble attitude of many non-governmental organisations to hand out food, we would like to remind them to be conscious of the need to reduce food wastage,” he said.

Subbarow said the nationwide CAP campaign would also cover Thaipusam festival celebrations at Sungai Petani, Ipoh, Selangor and Johor Bahru with the help of all the NGOs.

Meanwhile, the golden chariot is also making its journey for the third year and will be joined by the silver chariot.

Both the chariots would begin the journey at dawn on Jan 20.

The Penang Hindu Endowment Board, which is the organiser of the festival, will be holding a press conference on the Thaipusam preparation early next week.