MAKKAH: The food wasted in Makkah could feed 17 percent of hungry children in 18 developing countries, said a press report Friday. There are an estimated 4.8 million

starving children in Africa, Asia and Latin American countries, said Ahmad Al-Matrafi, director general of a charity food project in Makkah.

Al-Matrafi said that food wasted at an average wedding was sufficient to feed at least 250 people. He said that during the mid-year holidays, 24,000 people were fed with food collected at weddings and other social events.

He said that 60 out of 120 halls and resorts in Makkah were approached during the holidays. This revealed that there was food wasted and no information about it. Thirty percent of Makkah’s people do not inform anyone about the availability of surplus food, he said.

The charity was trying to create awareness about the situation so that more needy people can be helped, he said.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid, imam and khateeb of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, said in his Friday sermon that people would become more responsible if they count their blessings.

“If they fail to do so and become ungrateful, Allah may take these good things away from them.” Protecting one’s blessing was a form of worship, he said.