Project 8

Food Service Management Plate Waste Study

Daniel Lokic

Queens College Dietetic Internship

Introduction:
 Introduction: Plate waste is extremely important for the facility itself and the patients that are

treated. It affects the financial aspect because lots of wasted food means the hospital is quite

literally throwing money away. It affects customer satisfaction of the food which can spread

negatively by word of mouth. This can lead to less future patients coming to this facility,

equating in less money made by the hospital. High plate waste could also suggest a higher risk

for malnutrition and lack of proper recovery which can affect patient health as well. This article

discusses a study conducted with 383 trays in the first phase and 467 trays in the second phase. It

was found that the first set of trays scored below the benchmark of acceptable consumption.

After the replacement of two entrees, three starches, two vegetables, and sliced bread, the second

phase had better results. Food waste was significantly smaller than the first phase. Increasing the

appeal of the foods decreased plate waste in that hospital.

Collection method Advantages Disadvantages

Weighed or physical measurement -Weighing or measuring out -Weighing or physically measuring

each individual food to plate waste from patients is more time

determine how much the person consuming than other methods.

has wasted is the most accurate Needing a scale or other tools for

way to measure plate waste. measurement could take up a lot of

time.

-Patient estimates are removed,

there will be less human error -Dealing with people's half eaten food

and relying on someone else's may be uncomfortable to handle.

judgment.
24-hour recall -This method is in my opinion -Results can be lied about if a

the easiest way to see how patient is embarrassed about eating

much plate waste is being a lot of food or anything else.

discarded. By simply asking

you will understand how -This method to measure plate

much the patient is eating or waste also relies on the patient's

not eating. memory. The patient may be telling

you the most accurate memory of

-This method is also the least what they ate but it may be wrong.

comfortable for you because Some patients may struggle with

you do not need to look at memory or simply not think about

eaten food or measure it. what they are eating every meal.

-Lowers accuracy because even if

the patient is not lying about what

they are eating, they may estimate

it badly. They may estimate it to

about half, but that could have

easily been ¼ or ¾.
Visual -This method is not that time -When measuring plate waste

consuming. All you need to through visual means, estimates can

do is look at the food opposed be wrong. Everyone is human, even

to the original and write down the person estimating how much

the difference. food was eaten vs not eaten could

be off.

-This method is also not

uncomfortable as you just

glance at the food and not

touch it.

-Patient estimates are

removed and there is more

reliability.

There could be a lot said about causative factors of undesirable food waste within a hospital’s

facility. Because this facility operated with a cook-chill system, the preparation methods could

have a big influence on the desirability of food. Reheated foods that have been frozen for days if

not almost a week could typically be more unappetizing than those that are made freshly. Diet

modifications can be difficult for most patients to get accustomed to. Coming from eating a high

sodium diet every day at home to a heart healthy diet because you’ve been diagnosed with heart

disease is a very big change. Many could take a long time to adjust to the diet modifications

given to them. Presentation at this facility is typically carefully thought of. Everything is
centered, no messiness, and everything is very presentable. Along with this comes the visual

appearance of the food. It is typically made to be edible rather than to look pretty. While this is

understandable, it could lead to some plate waste potentially.

Method:

The food items that I chose to conduct a visual plate waste study includes the protein of Island

Curry Chicken or Curried Kabocha Squash. The starch was either mashed potatoes, white rice, or

whole wheat bread. The vegetable category included green beans and pea soup. I decided to

follow the tray passers to the patient's room with my notebook and plate waste handout. I was

with them when they gave out the food and when they collected it 45 minutes later. I glanced at

it and at random chose a food group to see how much of it was eaten. I did this for 20 patients

total.

Results and Conclusion

Category All eaten ¾ eaten ½ eaten ¼ eaten None Total

eaten

Protein 2 4 1 1 2 10

Starch 2 3 1 1 7

Vegetable 1 2 3

Protein:

- 20% had all eaten

- 40% had ¾ eaten

- 10% had ½ eaten

 - 10% had ¼ eaten

- 20% had none eaten

Starch:

- 28% had all eaten

- 42% had ¾ eaten

- 14% had ½ eaten

- 14% had ¼ eaten

- 0% had none eaten

Vegetable:

- 0% had all eaten

- 0% had ¾ eaten

- 0% had ½ eaten

- 33% had ¼ eaten

- 66% had none eaten

The majority of proteins and starches were either fully eaten or ¾ eaten. Some patients still did

not finish all their protein or eat any of it but the majority did. All of the patients either ate ¼ or

none of their vegetables. This can show that some of the vegetables could potentially be swapped

out or altered to be more appetizing. Introducing vegetables like okra or eggplant could spark

some interest.

To further assess the satisfaction of patients and to determine the plate waste frequency, a

plate waste visual study should be done on a bigger scale. There should be at least 200-300

patients included over the span of at least 6 months to a year. Then after the results are in and

assessed, changing the vegetable options as well as one or two protein and starch options,
another study should be conducted. After those results are in, compare the two results and work

toward the direction of the better results.

Appendix:

Citations

Conners PL, Rozell SB. Using a visual plate waste study to monitor menu performance. J Am

Diet Assoc. 2004; 104: 94-96