Robust Food Waste Management Method for Food Services

In Finland earlier studies show high percentage (about 20%) of food produced ends up as food waste in food services. This leads to high environmental and economic impacts as high amounts of resources are using vain this late phase of the food system. FW monitoring methods for organize waste weighing and indicators are not standardized and thus there are a number of barriers to conduct regular measurements in everyday work in food services. There is also a lack of knowledge, tools, bracing examples and appropriate practises to decrease waste and motivate personnel.

To response these lacks the project will develop a food waste management method for all kind of food services including public and private companies. The project will address the measurement and data follow-up, data collection and sampling, improving overall food waste culture, decreasing, management and challenges in the sector including motivation of personnel and clients. The project also study how to prevent food waste by increasing communication and dissemination. This project is based on previous work and projects in Luke. The project will find a solutions and appropriate technical applications for robust measurement method, resource-effective practices, prove sampling and number of samples in different kind of subsectors and solve the challenges for regular daily operations. The project will disseminate information about the results of the project, best practises, and waste prevention. Dissemination is targeting for food service personnel, management, and clients, and it is including material for education purposes also.

The overall target is to create harmonized and defined model for measurement and decreasing method for food waste in the sector.