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How would you reduce food waste at large institutions like hospitals?
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University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics threw away 355,000 servings of food worth $181,600 in the year that ended Nov. 30 — a waste of 12 percent of food prepared for employees and visitors at the state’s largest hospital.
Among unsold food tossed in a single November day were 160 servings of meatloaf, 174 servings of ham and au gratin potatoes and 140 sides of mashed potatoes. On another day, 85 servings of macaroni and cheese went in the trash. On a third day, staff prepared 77 servings of spicy French fries. None was eaten.
Forty percent of food in the United States goes uneaten, according to the National Institutes of Health. More than 34 million tons of food waste was generated in 2010, with most of that going to landfills where it creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
UI Hospitals does not regularly donate unsold food, nor does the hospital recycle food waste into compost, which is striking at a campus with a Sustainability Office that promotes the UI goal of 60 percent waste diversion by 2020.
Read the story linked above for more details. How would you reduce food waste at institutions like the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics?
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L.A. is reportedly using food waste for cellulosic ethanol production. But other than that, if it’s outdated, why give it away? Or we could try feeding it to hogs and then see if it gets consumed the second time around.
It also intrigues me that we have so much whining about land used for ethanol (causing starvation) while we throw away tons of food, pave over food producing land, and wonder why so many people are obese!
I’m sure it’s hard to figure out how much to prepare in advance…but reading the article the other day on food waste,I read that they had to throw out 77 servings of French fries…who the heck makes 77 orders of fries in advance…looks like a little common sense would be a start…
Well, for University of Hospitals cafeteriasthey should turn over operations to private companies that can produce food on demand with little waste and maybe some actual flavor. The food at UIHC is horrible plus way overpriced, I have had numerous patients comment how they can’t afford to eat there so they are forced to go some where else that is cheaper and tastes better. Bring those private companies in (like they did with the coffee kiosk) and waste would be reduced while flavor and price would be better for everybody.
I don’t know enough to make a meaningful comment and I certainly do not know enough to criticize. Nonetheless, based on what little I know, it seems like there may be room for some improvement in planning and management.
If 12% of prepared food is thrown away, that means 88% of it is eaten. If 355,000 servings are not eaten, that means over 3,000,000 are eaten.
The numbers are huge because the numbers are huge. And, no, a private company could not do better. Restaurants that offer food on a buffet (which is what UIHC is doing in its visitor/staff cafeterias) also throw away a lot of food, as do fast food places. Ask anybody who has ever worked in a restaurant.. Doesn’t matter. Public, private. There’s still a lot of food that’s going to end up in the dumpster.
The solution is to figure out something else to do with that food besides landfill it. As far as I know, Iowa City has a facility for composting yard waste, but not food. And I don’t know if it would be helpful to donate nearly a thousand uneaten servings (not meals, servings) a day to the Salvation Army’s evening meal