Worksite canteens and public kitchens are able to reduce their food waste significantly for example by serving fewer dishes every day but in return diversifying what is offered during the week and by recycling excess food into new dishes. These are some of the findings in a new study conducted by the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, for the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, when two town hall canteens converted their food procurement to organic food. During the conversion process the total food waste was almost halved in both canteens.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration wanted to document the food waste that is generated when public kitchens are converted to organic kitchens under the Danish government's organic action plan 2020. The National Food Institute analysed the food waste in connection with the organic conversion of the town hall canteens in the cities of Roskilde and Fredensborg. The canteens daily feed 500 and 200 customers respectively.
Food waste approximately halved
The study showed that the canteen in Roskilde reduced the total food waste by 46% from an average of 74 kilos per day before the conversion to 40.1 kilos after. At the canteen in Fredensborg the daily food waste was reduced by 50%, as food waste dropped from 43.2 kilos per day before to 21.6 kilos after the conversion.
The reduction is in large part due to a drastic decrease in serving waste - that is food that is served e.g. at the buffet but not eaten. The decrease in buffet serving waste is likely due to several factors including an increased awareness of not offering too many dishes of food at a time, offering fewer different dishes and recycling leftover food where possible.
The canteens also achieved a considerable reduction in production waste - such as vegetable scraps and chicken carcasses – e.g. by using the food waste to make stock for sauces and soups.
According to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations about one third of the world’s food is wasted each year, which is equivalent to approximately 1.3 billion tons of agricultural and food products.
Good opportunities also for conventional public kitchens
While the food waste was reduced dramatically in the two canteens, the share of organic food increased considerably from 7% at both canteens to 42% in Roskilde and 53% in Fredensborg. However, the National Food Institute estimates that a similar reduction in food waste is likely to happen without an organic conversion, simply by conventional public kitchens focusing on waste reduction.
Read more
Read more about the study in the report: Madspild i forbindelse med økologiomlægning i offentlige køkkener (pdf) (available in Danish only, but the report includes an English summary). All food waste measurements were performed for five consecutive days both before and after the organic conversion.
The Nordic Council has published a guide with ideas on how public kitchens can achieve savings in their own operations and protect the environment by reducing food waste. The guide can be downloaded from the Nordic Council's website (available in the Nordic languages only).