An in-depth analysis of hospital food waste in terms of magnitude, nutritional value, and environmental and financial perspectives: A cross-sectional study.

Autor: Anari R; Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Nikooyeh B; Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Ghodsi D; Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Amini M; Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Neyestani TR; Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Waste management & research : the journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA [Waste Manag Res] 2024 Feb; Vol. 42 (2), pp. 167-177. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 10.
DOI: 10.1177/0734242X231176733
Abstrakt: Hospital food waste has nutritional, economic and environmental impacts, and halving food waste is a sustainable development goal. This study aimed to quantify hospital food waste and its nutritional, environmental and financial values in medical and surgical wards. In a cross-sectional study in three educational hospitals, nutritional and demographic data of adult inpatients were collected. The food waste was measured at breakfast, lunch and snack times, and a 24-hour food recall was fulfilled for each patient. Also, the nutritional, environmental and financial values of discarded food were calculated. Food waste contributors were determined using linear regression. Totally, 398 meals were evaluated. The average served food was about 1 kg patient -1 day -1 , while 539.5 g patient -1 day -1 (50.1% of the served food) was discarded. Mean food wastes were 148.9 g (standard deviation (SD): 130.1), 364.3 g (SD: 257.2) and 80.2 g (SD: 101.5) in breakfast, lunch and snacks, equal to 45.7% (SD: 36.9), 51.4% (SD: 36.1) and 62.4% (SD: 53.2) of the served food, respectively. Rice, soup, milk and fruits were mostly discarded. Severely malnourished patients had higher daily food waste. Food preparation and waste were estimated to cost on average US$1.8 and US$0.8 patient -1 day -1 , respectively. Each kilogram of food waste resulted in 8.1 m 2 of land use, 1.4 kg of CO 2 -equivalent gas emission, and about 1003 L of water wastage. Half of the hospital food was discarded which means waste of nutrients, environmental resources and money. Current data can help authorities to plan for reducing hospital food waste.
Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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