A study of food waste in St. Francis Hospital

This overall study is about one hospital food system that supports meals for patients, retail customers, special events, and school catering. The estimated food prepared is 90% for patients and retail. The goal is to quantify food purchase, consumption, and waste, as well as energy use in this food system. The input to the overall food system was estimated as a total of about 1200 food item codes per year (Sysco codes) which weigh about 1,200,000 lbs. Waste in the kitchen where food preparation and patient meals are handled consists of solids (peels, seeds, etc.) or liquids (pickle juice, canned fruit liquid, etc.), and fully prepared food kept warm but for which no patient requests are made and so are declared as leftover waste. The study addressed the food waste per tray and per patient and the retail waste (unused leftovers), which averages 48,180 lbs/year. So, the actual hospital food waste is about three-fold higher than the patient tray waste, which is often the only studied aspect of the hospital food system. Thus this study provides a new perspective on hospital food waste as it measures food waste and energy use in the kitchen, patient, and retail areas for improvements.