Effectiveness of a waste reduction campaign in a supply and nutrition unit

Abstract

Background

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that one-third of the food produced in the world is wasted or lost along the food supply chains; with 46% of the losses in the sales process and by consumer habits.

Objective

This study aimed to quantify and analyze the effectiveness of an intervention for awareness to combat food waste in a supply and nutrition unit.

Method

Per capita index of rest-ingestion was applied. The collection of this data was done for 25 days, being 10 days before, 5 days during and 10 days after the awareness campaign.

Results

There was a reduction of the per capita mean rest-ingestion from 60.0 ± 14.9 to 39.3 ± 13.4; this data agreed with works in the literature on the subject. It was also possible to account for a decrease in the average financial cost of around 34.6%.

Conclusion

It was found in this study that the lack of awareness of diners contributes significantly to the high food waste, because it was notorious the reduction of the indicator of rest-ingestion waste after intervention.

Keywords:
food wastefulness; food and nutrition security; awareness campaign; supply and nutrition unit