Chinese military to introduce robot cooks, prevent food waste by troops

The Chinese military plans to introduce robot cooks and high-efficiency energy-saving stoves to reduce labour intensity even as it launched a drive to stop food waste and cultivate thrifty habits in the defence forces under the "clean plate" campaign launched by President Xi Jinping.

The two-million strong People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest, would actively promote the application of new technologies including advanced cooking equipment such as high-efficiency energy-saving stoves, multipurpose steaming ovens and cooking robots, the PLA Daily reported on Thursday.

The above measures were aimed at improving the mechanisation and intelligence of meal making, reduce the labour intensity and energy consumption of cooking, it said.

Also the Logistic Support Department of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the PLA, has recently made arrangements to stop food waste and cultivate thrifty habits in the military by promoting several reform measures to improve the troops’ food management and production, and strengthened corresponding supervisions and inspections at the same time.

China last week officially launched a new version of “Clean Your Plate Campaign" flagged by President Xi, sparking speculation that the world’s most populous country faces food crisis following Covid-19 pandemic.

"Different from the previous campaign, which was aimed at putting an end to officials' extravagant feasts and receptions, the 2.0 version calls for the public to stop wasting food,” official media reported last week.