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.
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The purpose of this study was to examine nutrition management conditions of lunch with the elementary schools and middle schools in the Changwon area. 292 students (5th and 6th graders) from three elementary schools and 330 students from three middle schools (boys, girls, and co-ed) participated in the aggregate selective plate waste measurement for 5 days. Planned menus, serving sizes and plate waste amount data were collected. Nutrient analyses for the planned, served and consumed menus at school lunches were performed by using CAN-PRO 3.0. Nutrient analyses of the planned, served and consumed menus were compared with nutrient management standard (former edition) for school lunch and 1/3 Korean Dietary Reference Intakes (KDRIs). Significant difference was found in the average consumption rate between the elementary schools (82.2%) and the middle schools (71.8%). Specifically, the consumption rates of steamed rice (p < 0.001), side dish 1 (p < 0.001), and Kimchi (p < 0.01) at the middle schools were significantly lower than those of the elementary schools. When the nutrient contents in the served menus were put into percentages to the nutrient contents in the planned menus, middle schools (92.3%) showed bigger serving loss than the elementary schools (95.4%). In the nutrient assessment comparied with nutrient management standard (former edition), middle school lunches showed comparatively less energy or less some nutrient contents against the standard than the elementary school lunches. Specifically, in case of boys in middle schools, Vitamin C was the only nutrient content that satisfied the standard in the planned menus, served menus and consumed menus. In the 1/3 KDRIs based assessment, middle schoolers were found not to be provided proper nutrients with school lunches. To improve nutrition management at middle school foodservices, dietitians should reinforce nutrient assessment for menu planning, and try to decrease serving loss and plate waste.
Hospital malnutrition could be caused by not completing the food served in the hospital. This has been a big problem since it delays the recovery of the patient and extends the length of hospital stay. The purpose of the study was to reduce the plate waste for the DM diet by performing several nutrition service improvement activities. The study was performed in a general hospital with 900 beds. A questionnaire survey was taken by 39 DM patients to obtain their aspect of the hospital foodservice systems and the quality of the meals at the beginning of the study. The amounts of foods served in the hospital kitchen and returned were measured by weights. After the improvement activities, the measurement of the plate waste was performed again for comparison. The average percentage of plate waste for the DM diet was 23.2%. The survey showed no difference by sex, age or duration of admission in plate waste. However, this food wastage percentage showed differences between the patients having a chance to get information about the diet therapy (12.21%) and not having one(26.06%) (p < 0.05). Using a five-point Likert-type scale, the quality of food by its taste was 2.49 (1: very poor, 5: excellent), the temperature score was 3.56 (1: very poor, 5: excellent), and the amount of food served score was 2.95 (1: very poor, 5: excellent), and the preference score was 3.13 (1: very dislike, 5: very like). Nutritional care improving activities were performed by adjusting seasonings, developing new menus, and standardizing cooking methods in order to increase the satisfaction of meal quality. The dietitian's inpatients care protocol was adjusted to expand the nutritional counseling chance for the DM patients. After the improvement activities, the average plate waste was reduced to 14.6%, and the satisfaction of food taste and preference increased to 3.21 (p < 0.001), and 3.36 (p < 0.05) correspondingly. The result shows that, for therapeutic diet patients, food intake could be increased by improving the food service satisfaction by controlling the meal quality and clinical nutritional service activities.
The study was designed to investigate food waste management practices and to identify factors affecting food waste generation at school food services. A total of 202 dietitians employed at elementary schools participated in the survey. The mean food waste weight per school was 77.54 kg, forty percent of the schools generated food waste of 50~100 kg every day and 53% generated plate waste less than 50 kg. Three quarters of the dietitians perceived plate waste as a major component of the food waste and vegetable dishes were a major source of the plate waste. Half of the dietitians used a food waste pick-up service for waste disposal, which was the most preferred waste disposal method. Approximately 90% of the dietitians conducted education on plate waste reduction for students but their perceptions on the effectiveness of the education was inconsistent. The contents were environmental issues (70.3%) and unbalanced food choice (56.7%). According to factor analysis based on performance score, solid waste management practices were grouped into 'information collecting and education', 'supervision of production process', 'cooperation with related groups', and 'control over production planning'. Practices appertaining to 'cooperation with related groups', 'information collecting and education' factor need to be improved. Dietitians should pay attention to 'recycle and reuse of left over' practice. Waste generation differed significantly by dietitians' ages and working experience. In order to reduce plate waste, more effective education materials and methods need to be developed and support from principals, teachers, and parents is necessary.
The purposes of the study were to analyze nutrients of the menus served and to evaluate students' nutrient consumption at school food services. Three middle schools (boys, girls, and co-ed schools) were located in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. A weighed plate method was employed to measure plate wastes and consumption of the menus served. Data was collected for 3 consecutive days at each school. Nutrient analyses for the served and consumed menus were performed using CAN-PRO. On average the students consumed 67% of the menus they were served. By menu category, the students consumed more than 90% of the rice and one-dish foods they were served. Kimchis (54%) and soups/stews (55%) were the menu categories with the lowest consumption rates. The menus served at the boys and coed schools did not meet 1/3 of the recommended daily allowances (RDA) for calcium, iron, and vitamin B2. Due to the plate wastes, the actual consumption of the boys school students did not meet the 1/3 RDA for calories, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and niacin. The menus served at the girls school exceeded the 1/3 RDA for all nutrients, but the actual consumption did not meet the 1/3 RDA for calcium, iron, and vitamin B2. During the 3-day periods, the served and consumed menus provided 27% and 24% of energy from fat, which exceeded the recommended proportion of 20%. To improve nutrition management at school food services, dietitians should understand factors that influence students' consumption and implement nutrition education programs that emphasize balanced diets.
The purposes of this study were to : (a) analyze the portion size & plate waste of normal & soft diets provided by dietetic departments in hospital, (b) investigate the factors affecting plate waste, and (c) determine the nutritional & monetary value of plate waste. A questionnaire for food preference and sensory evaluation was developed and a survey was carried out for the 46 normal diet and 56 soft diet patients in Sanggye Paik hospital in Seoul. Serving size and plate waste were weighed by the electric scale, and CAN-Pro program was used to evaluate the nutrition value. The data were analyzed using the SAS package program for descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The average plate waste rate for normal diet and soft diet were 30.3% and 49.6%. More plate waste amount occurred on female patients' diet than male patients' diets regardless of the kind of diet. The plate waste percentage of male patients were higher than those of female on normal diet. On soft diet, patients who hospitalized in surgery or pediatrics department were higher than in other wards. Plate waste of normal diet and amount were correlated positively, but wastage and preference were correlated negatively Negative correlation was between taste and plate waste, and between temperature and plate waste, too. On the other hand, plate waste caused the deficiency of some nutrients such as Ca, Fe, Vit. B2 and a great monetary loss.