Food Waste in School Catering: An Italian Case Study

Abstract

Food losses and waste are currently at the heart of academic debates, civil society initiatives, and political agendas. This paper investigates food waste in school catering services focusing on six schools located in the municipality of Verona (Italy). It aims to quantify food waste, as a measure of food catering inefficiency, to identify the main causes, and to suggest a set of prevention and reduction interventions. For these purposes food waste is defined as all the products discarded from the food chain while still preserving their nutritional value and complying with safety standards. The work shows a significant level of inefficiency in the school catering services, measured by the amount of food processed and still perfectly edible, but not served during the meals. On average more than 15% of the overall processed food is wasted. Among the causes identified in this study, four of them were more relevant than others because of their implications and impact on prevention: the lack of attention to dietary habits, the rigid food procurement specifications, the menu composition, and the meal presentation.

Towards a More Sustainable Food Supply Chain: Opening up Invisible Waste in Food Service

“…Furthermore, Betz [29] underlines the optimisation of storage management, stock minimising, training of employees, fast cooling down of food to avoid microorganism growth, adaption of portion sizes to customer needs, attractive presentation of meals, use of small serving bowls at the buffet, as well as sensitisation of customers regarding food waste and the use of feedback sheets among the recommended initiatives to reduce food waste [29]. Moreover, Falasconi et al [28] mention the importance of increasing flexibility in portions of different food types, menu planning and information campaigns aiming to increase dietary habits among students in order to reduce food waste in school catering. Finally, we must not forget the role of technology improvement and innovation in long-term approaches to reduce food waste [22,36].…”

Adapting Nonprofit Resources to New Social Demands: The Food Banks in Spain

“…These basic products all have very short expiration dates, which is not worrying because they are usually given out continuously without letting them expire. Proximity methodologies can be applied for the successful organization of donations [56].…”

Determinants of Plate Leftovers in One German Catering Company

“…In this context, it should be noted that out-of-home settings in different countries, although to a lower extent than private households, have been found to add a relevant share of total food waste [2,22,23], thus are a relevant field of action to reduce negative environmental effects of food consumption [24]. Falasconi et al [20] could show that a significant driver of food waste in schools is the amount of food processed but not served. Food waste in catering facilities can be regarded as a loss of resources and hence should be reduced as much as economically feasible.…”

“…However, with regards to the increasing importance of out-of-home food consumption, i.e., in restaurants, canteens or kiosks (e.g., [19]) or schools [20], there is a need to "link good consumer behaviors ( . .…”