FOOD WASTE AND CONSUMER SATISFACTION WITH THE FOOD SERVICE OF HOTEL AND TOURISM SCHOOL OF COIMBRA, PORTUGAL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2015.15423Keywords:
Food Waste. Food Services. Consumer Satisfaction.Abstract
Introduction: Food waste is a matter of concern in school foodservices. One of the causes given for its occurrence is the lackof awareness of consumers for food waste problem. Objective:Assess food waste of meals served at the cafeteria, the perceptionof consumers in relation to their own food waste and theirsatisfaction with the food service. Methodology: Lunch meals wereassessed in two consecutive days. The leftovers and plate wasteresulting from school lunch were weighed by meal components.It was considered that values above 10% of leftovers and platewaste were unacceptable. Other variables were assessed through aquestionnaire administered to consumers. Results and Discussion:Most respondents were satisfied with the food service. It was foundan average of 22.7% of leftovers and 12.7% of plate waste from themeals evaluated. The main dish component with highest amountof plate waste was fish (25.37%), much higher than meat (14.15%).An amount above 20% of leftovers was found for all components,except for protein source and bread. There was a dissociationbetween the perception of wasted food and actual plate waste.Conclusions: In spite of satisfaction of consumers with food service,the results of food waste found are considered unacceptable andreflect the need to improve the planning of meals and menusadequacy to consumer preferences, as well as to develop strategiesto reduce meals rejection. The dissociation between perceptionof food waste and the amount and type of food effectively wastedjustifies the intervention at the level of awareness of users ofcafeteria, as a possible strategy to reduce waste.
DOI: 10.12957/demetra.2015.15423
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