Comparing Food Provided and Wasted before and after Implementing Measures against Food Waste in Three Healthcare Food Service Facilities

Christina Strotmann, Silke Friedrich, Judith Kreyenschmidt, Petra Teitscheid and Guido Ritter
Additional contact information
Christina Strotmann: Institute of Sustainable Nutrition (iSuN), Münster University of Applied Sciences, Corrensstr. 25, Münster 48149, Germany
Silke Friedrich: Institute of Sustainable Nutrition (iSuN), Münster University of Applied Sciences, Corrensstr. 25, Münster 48149, Germany
Judith Kreyenschmidt: Institute of Nutritional and Food Sciences, Cold Chain Management Working Group, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 7-9, Bonn 53115, Germany
Petra Teitscheid: Institute of Sustainable Nutrition (iSuN), Münster University of Applied Sciences, Corrensstr. 25, Münster 48149, Germany
Guido Ritter: Institute of Sustainable Nutrition (iSuN), Münster University of Applied Sciences, Corrensstr. 25, Münster 48149, Germany

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: The aim of the study was to reduce food waste in a hospital, a hospital cafeteria, and a residential home by applying a participatory approach in which the employees were integrated into the process of developing and implementing measures. Initially, a process analysis was undertaken to identify the processes and structures existing in each institution. This included a 2-week measurement of the quantities of food produced and wasted. After implementing the measures, a second measurement was conducted and the results of the two measurements were compared. The average waste rate in the residential home was significantly reduced from 21.4% to 13.4% and from 19.8% to 12.8% in the cafeteria. In the hospital, the average waste rate remained constant (25.6% and 26.3% during the reference and control measurements). However, quantities of average daily food provided and wasted per person in the hospital declined. Minimizing overproduction, i.e., aligning the quantity of meals produced to that required, is essential to reducing serving losses. Compliance of meal quality and quantity with customer expectations, needs, and preferences, i.e., the individualization of food supply, reduces plate waste. Moreover, establishing an efficient communication structure involving all actors along the food supply chain contributes to decreasing food waste.

Keywords: food waste; food service facilities; resource efficiency; hospital catering; plate waste; serving losses; sustainable nutrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1409/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1409/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1409-:d:107780

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().