Justification of Food Waste Program - Essay Example

Justification and Sustainability of Food Waste Program Justification of Food Waste Program Introduction Until recently, food wastagehas not been taken seriously, as it was disposed in the general way using macerators. However, with the advent Food Waste Regulations, managers have began to see that the food wastes dwarves the management costs and it all lies in the cost of the food itself, the fuel used, how it is served and staff costs needed to prepare it (Small, 2014). I have seen that this is an issue the hospital management should consider because it can help to reduce food waste, food costs, and maintain high hygienic standards. I have noticed that even the most conscious commercial kitchen operations consider kitchen wastes as undesirable but inevitable part of the food expenditures that cost hospitals 4 to 8 percent in terms of food wastages (Chardoul & Coddington, 2012). In my investigation on the kitchen operations, I have noticed that nutrition and the presence of malnutrition are very vital in the overall treatment and care of our patients. However, I have observed that some food is not being eaten, that is, it is going to waste; as a result, it is not contributing to nutrition (Bauers, 2011). I think that all the food reduction measures especially the ones that affect the portion sizes, should be considered in consultation with the hospital nutritionists. I think inclusion of an effective Food Waste Program will be important in the kitchens, canteens and in the wards. Justification of Food Waste Program After tracking down the sources of these organic wastes, I have noticed that most of them were emanating from pre and post consumer sources in the food areas. Note that some of these food wastes are in two categories: Non-perishable and unspoiled perishable foods (Perry, 2014). When serving, some patients may not report for meals and these foods are returned to the kitchen, but still considered as waste. As a result, managers start seeing volume of food waste generated and the costs to take the large bins away. I think that with the Food Waste Program, such wastage can be minimized by taking the food back to the kitchen. Nevertheless, I think I will like to make a distinction of the types of foods that can be taken back to the kitchen. Some types of food wastes have no value such as meat bones and onions. Conversely, there are those referred as valuable food wastes and I have observed that they are being generated both in service of the patients and at the canteens. For example, I have seen there are unserved food wastes, untouched food wastes and plate wastes. For the untouched food wastes, for example, comprise the plated food that has not been touched or consumed in any part as a result of some patients being away from ward for procedure, have been discharged, or have refused a tray because they are feeling unwell. Such food wastes can still be served to another patient putting in mind hygienic standards when serving it for the second time. Overall, the reduction of food wastes will help to reduce the cost of food in the hospital. For instance, you can agree with me that the price to buy a kilogram of food differs from the high values food such as meat to lower value food such as porridge. However, there are some challenges I will like to put across concerning the feasibility of the Food Waste Program. Most food wastes that are not valuable tend to be trashed instead of beings in compostable material because trashing may seem to reduce money in waste disposal costs. However, this may result to an increase in the GHG (Green House Gas) emission from landfills. GHG can be a health hazard to hospital patients and the community as a whole. Food Waste program is easily be implemented in the hospital because it mostly relies on operational management of the staffs in food service and production. It will only require developing rules which are easy o follow for guiding the staffs in the disposal of food wastes. I think that as part of the Food Waste Program, educational training such as organizing seminars will be appropriate in order to help the staffs develop effective ways of waste food disposal (Kavanaugh, 2013). Sustainability of Food Waste Program There are several basic measures that I think can be implemented in the Food Waste Program and ensure effective disposal of the food wastes. For example, there should be timing meals. The staffs who serve the mid-morning soup round, can consider its effect on the amount of food that will be taken at lunch and accordingly (Leubsdorf, 2014). Consequently, patients can fill up on soup and eat less amount of food at lunch time; leading to overall reduced nutritional intake (Lee & Turpin, 2011). Furthermore, there should be more focus on lunch, since I have noted that the highest quantity of food is wasted during this time. Nutritionist can give a hand in trying to find the cause of this waste by establishing some the problems that the patients could be having. There should also be protected time-meal policy. It requires that the visiting time, treatment and other activities, if necessary, be put under fixed time schedule, and not during meal times. Another sustainability procedure that the hospital should look into is the ordering system. The hospital should determine how the numbers of each meal determined by looking at how the amount of food to be cooked is forecast and whether the portions order per meal translates into amount of food given to the patients. Also, think about the portion size: Meat portion, vegetable and potatoes and special meal options (vegetarian) (Lee & Turpin, 2011). It should be appropriate also to consider those with poor appetite such as the elderly people; they should be provided with smaller portions with fortification, instead of large portions. Talking to staffs can also be helpful since “they see it all”. I have heard some kitchen staffs quipping “hardly anyone eats turnips when they are being served”. Talking to staffs can help to understand the types of foods that the patients do not want replace them with more appealing and nutritional equivalent foods. Inclusion of the size menu of the size option on the menu can also help in ensuring the sustainability of the food waste program. For staffs that operate the paper menu, it will very important that they include an option for portions size and should ensure that it is visible and regularly filled in. On the other hand, if the staffs use a verbal menu system, it will be appropriate that they ask the patients whether they require a small portion. Notably, the staffs should ensure that they have the correct portion size and also, enough training of the staffs should be taken for the size option on menu to be effective. In the case of canteens, I have noted that they can be a significant source of food waste. I have been noting that there is: Food prepared but not served, cold counter food, food being prepared at the end of the service and high levels of plate waste generated. For all the instances I have mentioned, the hospital can reduce food wastes through some suggestions that I have found to be easier to apply. For food that is prepared and not served, staffs should be encouraged to measure the quantity of food that remains unserved at each meal and determine the trend. Checking these trends will help to measure more accurately the amount of food that should be prepared. For the cold counter food such as salad bar and desserts, staffs can reduce waste by putting out less food at the start and replenishing more often. In addition, if the food is not used, staffs can dispose of them on the same day, or can dispose of those that have a number of days’ shelf life. It can be very helpful if food is not prepared at the end of the service; instead, customers should be encouraged to eat what is already prepared. In particular, staffs can be preparing small batches of sides such rice-towards the end of the food service. As a result, this will meet the customers’ satisfaction and help to reduce food waste. In the case of the when high levels of plate waste are generated, the staffs may consider using smaller plate and scoop sizes. Customers can also be offered with small portion at lower prices so as to encourage then not to be bulky amount of food which some may go to waste. All the above mentioned measure when implemented effectively, will help in reducing food wastage and ensure the patients get balanced nutritional meals, thereby facilitating the implementation of the Food Waste Program (Williams & Walton, 2011). In the case of disposing in an environmental friendly way, the use of compostable disposal materials will be suitable since it will help in reducing garbage in landfill and reduce the GHG. There are other effective methods disposing kitchen wastes that I have read from some reliable information sources. As usual, backyard composting may not be suitable for the kitchen scraps collection. The reason is because it contains materials such as meat bones, dairy products, bread, pizza, fish, and soiled paper materials such as napkin that should not be composted in the regular compost backyard bins. Composting facilities that use specialized technology have been established as an alternative diversion for the kitchen wastes. Backyard food waste digesters such as the Green Cone Digesters have been recommended to be environmental friendly and to reduce the amount of food wastes coming from the kitchens (Williams & Walton, 2011). Conclusion Educational training should also be incorporated in the program on some of which are highly perishable. For example, condiments can be perishable (butter) and as such, condiments should be served on request. I urge my preceptor to consider the Food Waste Program and it will help to reduce food wastage at the hospital. In addition, the hospital can consider; if they end up with unserved food, they can donate it to charitable organization, or they use chill vending machine that has reheating capacity. Such meals can be sold to staffs and customers at night. References Bauers, S. (2011). Waste Management investing in food-waste composting. Philly.com. Retrieved from: http://articles.philly.com/2011-05-04/news/29508706_1_food-waste-waste-management-composting-facility Chardoul, N., & Coddington, B. (2012). A comprehensive food waste progam for a typical 1,000 bed hospital can be carefully designed to become successful and sustainable. BioCycle, 53(9), 29 Kavanaugh, C. (2013). Compostable plastics may help boost cities food-waste programs. Plastic News. Retrieved from: http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20130925/NEWS/130929951/compostable-plastics-may-help-boost-cities-food-waste-programs Leubsdorf, B. (2014). Food-Waste Recycling Faces Hiccups. More States Want to Compost Table Scraps, But Infrastructure to Turn Them Into Fertilizer or Electricity Isnt Ready. The Wallstreet journal. Retrieved from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/food-waste-recycling-faces-hiccups-1401998700 Lee, L.D., & Turpin, B. (2011). Waste not. Health Facilities Management. Health Facilities. Retrieved from: http://www.hfmmagazine.com/display/HFM-news-article.dhtml?dcrPath=/templatedata/HF_Common/NewsArticle/data/HFM/Magazine/2011/Jan/0111HFM_FEA_enviro Perry, K. (2014). Mass. To Make Big Food Wasters Lose The Landfill. The Salt. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/08/06/338317224/mass-to-make-big-food-wasters-lose-the-landfill Small, L. (2014). How hospitals can go green, save green with food waste disposal. FierceHealthcare. Retrived from: http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/ Williams, P., & Walton, K. (2011). Plate waste in hospitals and strategies for change. The European e-journal of clinical nutrition and metabolism, 6(6), 235-241. 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