text: It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, as French restaurateurs have discovered. A report to the French government is urging eateries and customers to embrace 'le doggy bag' in a bid to reduce the staggering amount of food thrown away each year. Socialist MP Guillaume Garot, the author of the study, said while the popular US practice was previously 'unthinkable' for snooty diners and chefs, a change in attitudes could save France up to €20 billion (£14 billion) a year. French diners have previously seen doggy bags - popular in America and the UK - as 'embarrassing', but one MP has said increasing their use would stop the country wasting huge amounts of food . Chefs in France have treated takeaway bags with contempt, seeing them as 'degrading' towards their dishes . The MP has put forward 36 proposals including promoting 'doggy bags', which allow customers to bring their leftover meal home with them, as a way of stopping the rampant food waste in France, a report in The Daily Telegraph says. Throwing still-edible food away, the study continues, costs the average French  household €400 (£285) a year. Mr Garot accepts that there is a cultural obstacle stopping diners asking for takeaway bags, with proud chefs seeing it as 'degrading' towards their carefully-crafted dishes. But the scale of the food wastage problem in France means something must be done to stop the 'almost automatic' habit of waiters and cooks throwing away leftover food, he adds. Throwing away still-edible food is costing the country up to €20 billion each year, the MP's study has found . A UN report found 1.3 billion tons of food was wasted globally each year, the equivalent of a third of food produced. Cash-strapped France is attempting to save money after its position in the Eurozone worsened considerably in 2014, a year that saw higher unemployment, an increase in the public deficit and a decrease in investment. French start-up company TakeAway told the newspaper introduced the 'doggy bags' - or 'le gourmet bag', as one union boss has suggested calling them - is considered 'a bit embarrassing'. But a recent poll revealed that 75 per cent of French diners would consider making the most of the bags to enjoy the rest of their dinner later on.
target: Chefs should embrace 'le doggy bag' to stop edible food going in the bin .
  Food waste costs average French household hundreds of pounds a year .
  Popular practice was previously 'unthinkable' for French food lovers .