Generation of Food Waste and Plate Waste Reduction Strategies in School Food Services in Gyeonggi Province

Jiyeon Choi; Kyung-Eun Lee

doi:10.5720/kjcn.2019.24.5.422

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Choi and Lee: Generation of Food Waste and Plate Waste Reduction Strategies in School Food Services in Gyeonggi Province

Research Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2019; 24(5): 422-432.

Published online: 30 October 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2019.24.5.422

Generation of Food Waste and Plate Waste Reduction Strategies in School Food Services in Gyeonggi Province

Jiyeon Choi¹

, Kyung-Eun Lee²

¹Department of Food and Nutrition, Graduate School, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Graduate Student.

²Major of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Professor.

Corresponding author: Kyung-Eun Lee. Major of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul 01797, Korea. Tel: (02) 970-5648, Fax: (02) 976-4049, klee@swu.ac.kr

Received 10 September 2019 Revised 24 September 2019 Accepted 24 September 2019

The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

The purposes of the study were to assess wastes generated in school foodservice and to identify factors influencing the generation of plate waste.

Methods

A survey was administered from November 18–30 in 2015 to dietitians and nutrition teachers that were employed in schools located in Gyeonggi province. A questionnaire file and on-line survey site link were sent to the dietitians and nutrition teachers by e-mail. A total of 622 dietitians and nutrition teachers responded and 594 responses were used for data analysis after excluding 28 responses with significant missing data.

Results

Plate waste was the major part of food waste generated in school foodservice. Vegetable menus and soup/stews were discarded the most as plate waste. The dietitians and nutrition teachers perceived students' unbalanced diet and lack of appreciation of food as causes of the plate waste. Regarding waste management, they were concerned about environmental contamination by food waste and felt uncomfortable about discarding food. No plate waste day was the most frequently used plate waste reduction activity, followed by newsletters on plate waste reduction. Difficulty in getting teachers' support for dietary education during meal time was rated the greatest barrier to implementing the activities. To reduce plate waste, they perceived that students should understand the importance of environment conservation, teachers should supervise students' eating during meal time, students should be educated about proper portion, and foodservice staff should improve food quality.

Conclusions

To improve students' intake and reduce plate waste in school foodservice, foodservice staff need to involve students in school foodservice and improve the palatability of meals, especially vegetable dishes. School nutrition teachers and dietitians should educate students about healthy eating and environment conservation and the school community needs to understand and support plate waste reduction and healthy eating in schools.

Keywords: school, foodservice, plate waste, waste reduction

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of respondents and school foodservice

n=594

Table 2

Nutrition teachers' and dietitians' perception of food waste generation

1) Frequency (%)

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01

Table 3

Causes of plate waste perceived by nutrition teachers and dietitians

1) Mean ± SD

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01

a, b: Means with different superscripts are significantly different by Duncan's post-hoc test at α level of 0.05.

Table 4

Perceived barriers toward food waste management among nutrition teachers and dietitians

1) Mean ± SD

^*: p<0.05

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

a, b: Means with different superscripts are significantly different by Duncan's post-hoc test at α level of 0.05.

Table 5

Plate waste reduction activities implemented at schools

1) Frequency (%)

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001

Table 6

Perceived barriers toward implementing plate waste reduction activities among nutrition teachers and dietitians

1) Mean ± SD

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

a, b: Means with different superscripts are significantly different by Duncan's post-hoc test at α level of 0.05.

Table 7

Perceived need on food service improvement for plate waste reduction among nutrition teachers and dietitians

1) Mean ± SD

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (very unnecessary) to 5 (very necessary).

a, b: Means with different superscripts are significantly different by Duncan's post-hoc test at α level of 0.05.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from Gyeonggido Office of Education in 2015.

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ORCID iDs

Jiyeon Choi
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3374-7154

Kyung-Eun Lee
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5821-578X

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