The Tibetan Bureau of Health has notified its subsidiary departments of health to advocate the use of sterilized tableware at all restaurants.

Ben Jia, director of the legal supervision department in the Tibetan Bureau of Health, tells local media that they had carried out an investigation of 50 restaurants in Lhasa. The results showed that 95% of the surveyed customers and 72% of restaurant owners appreciated the use of sterilized tableware. Based on this result, the Bureau of Health has decided to establish and extend the use of centralized sterilized tableware in Lhasa, on a trial basis.

A representative from a Lhasa tableware sterilization company tells local media that the company collects the tableware used by restaurants and sterilizes them with special automatic tools under high temperature and pressure. This is supposed to be some of the most advanced heat sterilization in China. After the sterilization, customers can use the tableware without being worried about cleanliness.

The survey results show that restaurant owners who did not approve the use of sterilizing tableware often said they worried that the high price of sterilization will lead to higher restaurant prices, which would turn customers away.