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

TLDR

Minimizing overproduction, aligning meal quantity to patient needs, ensuring quality compliance, and establishing efficient communication across the food supply chain are key strategies to reduce plate waste in healthcare settings. The study aimed to lower food waste in a hospital, its cafeteria, and a residential home by engaging staff in a participatory process to develop and implement waste‑reduction measures. Researchers first performed a process analysis and a two‑week baseline measurement of food produced and wasted, then introduced the measures and conducted a second measurement to compare pre‑ and post‑implementation results. The intervention cut waste rates in the residential home from 21.4 % to 13.4 % and in the cafeteria from 19.8 % to 12.8 %, while the hospital’s overall waste rate remained unchanged (25.6 % to 26.3 %) but daily food provided and wasted per person decreased.

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.