Food waste is a global problem, which becomes apparent at various stages of the food supply chain. The present research study focuses on the optimization of food consumption in schools and effective food management through data-driven decision making within the trends: zero food waste and digital transformation. The paper presents a plate waste forecasting system based on mathematical modeling and simulation using the Monte Carlo method, which showed an RMSE equal to ±3% and a MAPE of 10.15%. The solution based on the simulator provides a possibility to better understand the relationship between the parameters investigated through data visualization and apply this knowledge to train managers to make decisions that are more effective. The developed system has multi-disciplinary application: forecasting, education and decision making targeted to reduce food waste and improve public health and food management in schools.

This research was conducted within the framework of a research project aimed at detecting patterns of plate waste and developing recommendations for improving catering in seven schools in Rezekne city (Latvia) by a combination of observation, physical weighing, semi-structured interview approaches and statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA). We identified plate waste (including wasted beverages), which remains after the lunch of schoolchildren in grades 1–7, examining a total of 7064 lunch samples. The originality of the research is due to the fact that a unified menu was designed for the field study, which ensured the same field study conditions in all the schools. The results of the research revealed that the average weight of plate waste per schoolchild reached 178 g, and the total weight of plate waste accounted for 28.75% of the total weight of food served. No significant differences in plate waste weight between various age groups and grades of schoolchildren were found, which was also confirmed by a one-way ANOVA test. An analysis of plate waste by food category showed that beverages accounted for the largest share of total plate waste (42.24%), followed by staple food (28.38%) and meat (11.77%). An analysis of plate waste shares of food served (%) by food category revealed a similar situation: the largest share of food served was made up of beverages (37.56%), followed by staple food (36.48%) and meat (28.77%). An analysis of the monetary value of food waste showed that the average cost of plate waste (excluding beverage) per schoolchild was EUR 0.236, which represented 16.6% of the national and municipal funding of EUR 1.42 per portion. Given the research results, the authors have concluded that in order to reduce the amount of plate waste generated by Rezekne city schools, school menus should be based not only on the requirements prescribed by relevant legal acts but also on cooking processes that meet the requirements of modern consumers (learners), e.g., by following trends in cooking practices in society to make the learners interested in consuming school food.

The research aims to identify the factors affecting food waste and waste generation in schools and, consequently, barriers to zero-waste food consumption based on a systematic review of literature for the period 2015-2022. The research employed qualitative methods: systematic literature review, analysis and synthesis, as well as the monographic method. The literature review examined 1702 research papers and the abstracts. Using a PRISMA 2020 flow diagram, 54 papers were selected from the ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar databases for an in-depth analysis. Based on the literature review, 8 groups of factors that affected the generation of food waste in schools in the consumption process were identified: demographical, political, school food policy, environmental, socio-economic, personal/human, physical/human and geographical. The factors identified and aggregated might provide a basis for further discussions on zero-waste food consumption and food waste reduction in schools, as well as specific actions to optimize school food consumption and promote effective food and food waste management.

Since the transition to a circular economy (CE) in various sectors is a priority strategic goal of policy planning in the European Union (EU), the goal of this article is to reveal the principles of the CE in the food sector. To achieve the goal, the study is based on a systematic literature review using the literature synthesis and analysis method and the PRISMA 2020 approach for the selection of appropriate literature. From 25 articles, which were selected from the SCOPUS database, 20 were left for final analysis. Based on the literature review, it was discovered that the main principles of the CE in the food sector are management of resources and waste, emission control, natural and production resource sustainability, increase in energy efficiency, reduction and prevention of food waste, recycling and reuse of food waste and public involvement in the transition to the CE. The determination of CE principles in the food sector is the basis for choosing goals and a right strategy for the implementation of CE principles in practice in this area

Risk analysis is an integral part of modern business management because successful business largely depends on the effective implementation of risk analysis. Agriculture is an important sector in the national economy, therefore Industry 4.0 increasingly provides digital solutions in orchard management, which facilitate and simplify decision-making in daily tasks. Meanwhile, unmanned aerial vehicles are applied as the agriculture sector's main monitoring and data acquisition tool. However, this means that it is necessary to pay attention to risk analysis due to the process of managing the orchard, where not only a person and the mechanized equipment controlled by him, which moves on the ground but also flying automated equipment participates. The purpose of the article is to perform the risk analysis for the survey and monitoring of orchards for yield estimation using unmanned aerial vehicles by considering commercial apple orchards in Latvia. The main thing is that most risks are predictable, but planning is necessary to reduce the probability of their occurrence.