A systematic review of food waste audit methods in hospital foodservices: development of a consensus pathway food waste audit tool

Abstract

Background To understand, monitor and compare the scope of food waste in hospital foodservices, it is essential to measure food waste using a standardised method. The aims of this systematic review were to: (i) describe and critique the methodological features of waste audits used in hospital foodservice settings that measure aggregate food and food‐related waste and (ii) develop a consensus tool for conducting a food waste audit in a hospital foodservice setting. Methods Seven electronic databases were searched for peer reviewed literature, and 17 Google Advanced searches located grey literature that described food waste audit methods previously used or developed for hospital foodservices. Study selection and quality assessment occurred in duplicate. Data describing the audit method, its feasibility, and strengths and limitations were extracted and synthesised to develop a consensus tool. Results Eight peer reviewed and nine grey literature documents describing a variety of food waste audit methods were found. The most common practices were 2‐week data collection (n = 5), foodservice staff collecting data (n = 6), measuring food waste only (n = 11), measuring food waste at main meals (n = 5) and using electronic scales to measure waste (n = 12). A consensus tool was developed that proposes a method for preparing, conducting and analysing data from a food waste audit. Conclusions This review used published evidence to develop the first ever food waste audit consensus tool for hospital foodservices to use and measure food and food‐related waste. Future research is needed to apply and test this tool in practice.

Dietitians Australia position statement on healthy and sustainable diets

“… A systematic review of hospital food service; environmental and associated economic impacts, outcomes of strategies aiming to improve sustainability and perspectives of patients, staff and stakeholders about these strategies (International) 132 A systematic review exploring consumer expectations and responses towards environmentally sustainable initiatives of foodservice operations (International) 133 A systematic review of food waste audit methods in hospital food services – development of a consensus audit tool (International) 134 Developing and implementing national‐level healthy and sustainable guidelines in America for institutional food service settings (United States of America) 135,136 Victoria's guidelines for healthy and high‐quality food in public hospitals and aged care facilities (Australia) 137 …”

Healthy and Environmentally Sustainable Food Procurement and Foodservice in Australian Aged Care and Healthcare Services: A Scoping Review of Current Research and Training

“…Research studies investigating healthy and environmentally sustainable initiatives focused on food procurement [34][35][36], foodservice [3,[37][38][39][40], and both food procurement and foodservice [41,42].…”

“…These included redesigning menus to increase appropriate vegetarian and vegan options [37], meal ordering closer to mealtime consumption [3,41], and increased mealtime assistance for patients with dexterity issues [3]. Facilities also reduced food packaging and/or increased recycling [38,41], monitoring of food waste [40], and sharing audit results with staff [41]. Food waste management policies were developed [38,39,41,42], and food waste used to produce compost [3].…”

‘It's a constant changing environment, and we're just playing catch up’: Hospital food services, food waste, and COVID‐19

“…The interview was designed for the primary study and consisted of semi‐structured questions related to the barriers and enablers towards the completion of hospital food waste audits, and the use of a consensus tool to support food waste audits. 29 The interview guide included six key questions which centred on understanding participant perspectives on the following topics: participant role in the food service, barriers to audit completion, enablers to audit completion, strategies to incorporate audits in practice, thoughts on the consensus tool, and how the consensus tool could support their practice. Prompting was used as needed to enable participants to elaborate in greater depth for four of the questions, for example ‘ What else may support this process further?…”