Last week Meituan co-published a proposal with a number of business organizations, including the China General Chamber of Commerce and China Cuisine Association, calling on restaurants to stop food waste and help cultivate new eating habits for customers.

上周，美团与包括中国商业联合会和中国烹饪协会在内的多家机构联合发表了一份倡议书，呼吁餐馆停止浪费食物，帮助培养顾客新的饮食习惯。

"Restaurants should innovate means of publicity using official accounts on social media and live-streaming to promote and advocate food-saving actions," the proposal said.

Meituan and the organizations are advocating that merchants offer guidance for consumers, including reminding them during the ordering process about the taste of the ingredients, portion sizes and other information about the dishes, to help them avoid food waste due to misleading information.

Catering associations in more than 18 provinces have also joined the campaign to eliminate food waste. On Friday the China Cuisine Association announced that it had teamed up with Ele.me, the Alibaba Group Holding-owned food delivery platform, to launch a "half-dish plan", encouraging restaurants to provide customers with the option to order smaller portions.

To curb portrayals of food waste on social media platforms, popular Chinese video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have stepped up content reviews of food-related live streams and implemented regulation of online eating shows.