Food Service Food Waste

Food Service Food Waste

Throughout the world, food wastage has become a significant problem. It is estimated that across America, tones of food are wasted on a daily basis. For this reason, the relevance of formulating sound food waste management strategies cannot be overstated. As a foodservice manager, I explore the various strategies I could embrace in an attempt to address the problem of food wastage in a foodservice outlet.

Strategies to Reduce Food Wastage

It is important to note from the onset that both retail and commercial food outlets waste food worth billons of U.S. dollars p.a. The cost of the said wastage as of 2010 according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was $30-$40 billion p.a. (City of Hillsboro, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, 2010). In seeking to address the problem of food wastage (and hence make some cost savings), I will largely rely on strategies that have been adopted by foodservice outlets in America as well as in other jurisdictions.

To begin with, FOODWaste.ie (n.d.) points out that in some cases, wastage of food could be triggered by poor storage, preparing meals unnecessarily, and over-ordering. FOODWaste.ie is an Ireland based initiative that seeks to facilitate as well as enhance adherence to food waste regulations. Armed with the above information, I would ensure that in addition to being refrigerated properly, meals are also prepared at the right time and in appropriate quantities. To rein in over-ordering, I would ensure that supplies are ordered for when needed. Further, I would also adopt the first-in, first out procedure of inventory management. In this particular case, all the perishable goods supplied first would be first to be used/utilized.

Next, in seeking to reduce wastage, I could also reduce or decrease the size of portions served. As Kirk (2012) points out, in most cases, guests leave some food on their plates for two reasons: the food could either be badly prepared and thus unacceptable, or it could have been served in portions that are too large. If investigations reveal the latter to be true, it would only be prudent to reduce the said portions. Indeed, "a pub/restaurant in Tipperary decreased portion sizes and managed to decrease the amount of food waste created by over a third" (FOODWaste.ie., n.d.).

Borrowing from an initiative facilitated by employees of two dinning facilities belonging to Intel, some of the best management practices to reduce waste include but they are not limited to re-working of fruit (unused) into sauce and/or chutney, proper and reasonable utilization of leftovers such as chili and potato products, efficient trimming practices, etc. (City of Hillsboro, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, 2010). As a foodservice manager, I could seek to make use of these management practices to address the food wastage problem.

It should however be noted that even with an effective food waste minimization and management system, there will always be some leftover food. Instead of directing the same to the dustbin, the edible leftover food could be donated to any of the food banks operating in the city, i.e. Food Bank for New York City.