Sustainability of food waste prevention through food consumption

Food is wasted in unacceptable amounts and an epidemic of overeating is sweeping the world, while billions of people suffer from food insecurity. In Sweden, retailers waste around 89,000 tons and public caterers 37,000 tons annually, comprising mostly edible food. Halving food waste at the consumption level faces challenges due to complex root causes. A stronger focus on food waste prevention is needed, but existing measures lack empirical evidence of their reduction potential and sustainability impacts. These gaps were addressed in this thesis by assessing two reduction measures, surplus food redistribution and plate waste prevention in school meals. Using diverse methods, such as surveys, life cycle assessment, material flow analysis and nutritional calculations, the food waste reduction potential and environmental, economic and social impacts of the measures were evaluated. The magnitude and climate impact of food overconsumption, i.e. metabolic food waste, was also analysed. The results revealed high environmental impact of overeating, corresponding to up to 10% of food-related climate impact in Sweden. The redistribution system proved effective, with approximately 78% of donated food eaten. Donations also outcompeted anaerobic digestion in environmental impact mitigation despite substantial rebound effects, while adding social stakeholder value. Educational approaches, including plate waste tracker and serving popular instead of unpopular school meals, showed great long-term reduction potential for plate waste (~19%). Overall, the results indicated high importance of limiting food overconsumption from both a health and environmental perspective and showed that redirecting edible food waste to people can protect the environment and provide valuable nutrients, accruing potential health benefits

The Evolution, Cost, and Operation of the Private Food Assistance Network

Delivery of assistance to the poor has changed drastically in the past 20 years. While the availability of cash assistance has decreased, the availability of food assistance has widened. The most substantial change in assistance available to the poor may have been the emergence of food pantries as a source of free food to prepare at home. Large numbers of Americans rely on food pantries, but many policymakers, academics, and participants in the private food assistance network have limited understanding of the network. This paper aims to fill that gap by examining how the network evolved, how much it costs, and how it operates. We provide a detailed review of domestic food policy since the 1930s, show how agricultural and welfare policies contributed to developing a supply of free food available to the needy, and explain how private efforts, such as the creation of Second Harvest, resulted in a rise in food pantries. Our research also highlights policy changes in the Food Stamp program that may have contributed to the tremendous demand for free food in the 1980s. Using secondary data, we estimate that the private food assistance network costs about $2.3 billion annually, making it about one-twelfth the size of the Food Stamp program. We show that the benefits available to the needy from the network differ among geographic areas. We highlight the heterogeneity of organizations in the network by examining two food banks, the Connecticut Food Bank and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. We conclude that the private food assistance network provides the needy with valuable resources and offer recommendations for making the public food safety net more effective.

From Source to Soup to Soul: An Exploration of Food Sustainability within Soup Kitchens through Community Partnerships

This study explored the needs, wants and feasibility of community partnerships in order to maintain food sustainability and healthy eating within soup kitchens. Specifically, the focus of this case study was related to partnership development within communities to support soup kitchens in creating proactive solutions to reducing food insecurity in Lawrence, MA. In order to have real-life examples, the partnership between Bread and Roses and Groundwork Lawrence was examined

It\u27s the Resources : Work, Governance, and the Institutionalization of an Emergency Food Network

Thousands of loosely connected organizations such as food pantries and soup kitchens constitute the emergency food network. Organizations in this network provide a critical source of food to millions of households each year. This dissertation examines how organizations in one city-level emergency food network acquire, manage, and use resources. It pays particular attention to the relationships that develop between organizations and funding sources. Utilizing institutional ethnography, this dissertation explicates the ways that everyday food provision in food pantries and soup kitchens is connected to a broader picture of changing modes of governance in the public and nonprofit sectors. The data were collected in Syracuse, New York, primarily using in-depth interviewing. Thirty interviews were conducted with staff and volunteers at food pantries and soup kitchens and fourteen interviews were conducted with staff of agencies connected to food pantries and soup kitchens through funding relationships. The emergency food network arose primarily to address gaps created by structural inequality and the inadequate government social safety net in the United States. Despite the enormous amount of labor that is dedicated to operating organizations within the emergency food network, this dissertation further supports other scholars\u27 critiques of the network as inadequate. The context in which the majority of the organizations in the network operate is a religious context; many of the volunteers in the network are committed to emergency food provision because of their religious beliefs. This religious context has implications for ground-level services as well as the overall institutionalization of the network. The government provides a significant amount of support for the emergency food network, particularly in New York State. New York State\u27s Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program provides a relatively stable source of funding for Syracuse\u27s food pantries and soup kitchens. This support has helped to institutionalize the local network and bolster the relationship between the regional food bank, which administers the state funding, and its eligible member programs. Even with a relatively stable funding environment, however, workers in food pantries and soup kitchens have been forced to develop limiting mechanisms to help manage their finite resources. These limiting mechanisms restrict the ability of the network to function as an adequate, charitably-based safety net. This dissertation also suggests that activities in the local network in which this study took place are becoming increasingly coordinated due to funding relationships, particularly with the regional food bank. Most of the approximately 70 food pantries and soup kitchens in Syracuse are member programs of the regional food bank, and as such, they agree to participate in a complex, but hierarchical relationship whereby the food bank guides, coordinates, and monitors much of the activity happening on the ground. While much of this coordination that has sought to improve local services, this complex network is still failing to serve as an adequate response to hunger and food insecurity

A Journey of Ta’awun (Cooperative Behaviour) in Edu-Action at IIUM Mkitchen® and Masjid al-Syakirin Gombak (MASG)

This book narrates the journey of ta’awun (cooperative behaviour) at IIUM Mkitchen® project with Masjid Al-Syakirin Gombak (MASG). The main objective of the project is transform the mosque as a platform to provide free food, to up skill in foodpreneurship, to create new employment opportunities, to give empowerment and to nurture entrepreneurship (3Es) for poor and needy people in the surrounding area of it. Ta’awun refers to cooperative behaviour among the participants, the sponsors, and the beneficiaries in initiating, planning, sponsoring, executing and evaluating the Mkitchen® project at Masjid Al-Syakirin Gombak (MASG). The journey officially started on 24th January 2021 through its first meeting among the interested as well as committed members. After executing two events, the project was continued with a full scale project for a month. The project has secured its proof of concept (POC). Nevertheless, the project has been continued with a small scale due to the movement restriction by the authority to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

The next step in sustainable dining: the restaurant food waste map for the management of food waste

In recent years, out-of-home food waste is growing exponentially and therefore represents an important focus of attention, albeit little research has been done on this instance. A few researchers have developed frameworks to better explain wasteful behaviors away from home, however a comprehensive interpretation of the phenomenon giving indications for maps/guidelines for the foodservice managers has not been carried out. In this paper, as a result of a thematic literature review, the Restaurant Food Waste Map (RFWM) was designed to describe the phases in which the food waste phenomenon occurs, and to identify mitigation activities of food waste generation processes. The proposed map is aimed to describe three phases in which the food waste phenomenon occurs: (1) kitchen food preparation, (2) food service, and (3) clients' consumption. Moreover, the present map highlights the approaches that restaurants could take into consideration to better manage the food waste: (1) prevention, (2) reduction, and (3) reuse/redistribution of food waste. These approaches set out guidance on the preferred methods of dealing with food waste so as to minimize its impact on the environment and society. The present study provides literature knowledge about food waste management at the restaurant level, and highlights some practical implications. Further studies could explore and analyze out-of-home waste from both the client and business perspective according to the proposed RFWM, to target specific attitudes and behavioral changes, and to quantify the impacts of the suggested changes. Reducing food waste is a key sustainability challenge for the food service industry. Despite the significance of this issue, a comprehensive interpretation of the phenomenon giving indications for maps/guidelines for the foodservice managers has received limited attention in the literature. As a result of a thematic literature review, the RFWM was designed to describe the phases in which the food waste phenomenon occurs, and to identify mitigation activities of food waste generation processes with practice-driven initiatives an organized map has been developed. The proposed map is aimed to describe three phases in which the food waste phenomenon occurs: (1) kitchen food preparation, (2) food service, and (3) clients' consumption. Moreover, the present map highlights the approaches that restaurants could take into consideration to reduce food waste: (1) prevention, (2) reduction, and (3) reuse/redistribution of food waste. The present study provides literature knowledge about food waste management at the restaurant level, and highlights some practical implications. Further studies could explore and analyze out-of-home waste from both the client and business perspective according to the proposed RFWM, to target specific attitudes and behavioral changes, and to quantify the impacts of the suggested changes. The concepts discussed here could help practitioners to become more aware of the factors that drive the adoption of food waste management practices

Inaugural edu-action journey with cooperative behavior (Ta’awun) of mKitchen® students in free food for the needy

This book narrates the inaugural edu-action journey with cooperative behaviour (ta’awun) in free food for the needy people at IIUM mKitchen® with Sri Mutiara Teguh Enterprise (cafeteria vendor at Mahallah Aminah IIUM Gombak). The main objective of the project is to transform Mahallah kitchen as a platform to provide free food, to up skill in food-preneurship, to create new employment opportunities, to give empowerment and to nurture entrepreneurship (3Es) among students. Ta’awun refers to cooperative behaviour among the participants, the sponsors, and the beneficiaries in initiating, planning, sponsoring, executing and evaluating the mKitchen® project at Sri Mutiara Teguh Enterprise, Mahallah Aminah. The journey officially started on 1 July 2021 with various student development entities at IIUM. After providing a 4-day online training on business model and plan, financial modelling, and digital marketing, the steering committee has decided to provide the real experience to the students. In conjunction with Malaysia Day on 16 September 2021, the students proposed for cooking and distributing free food to the needy as part of the first proof-of-concept for mKitchen students with the “Keluarga Malaysia” spirit. Nevertheless, the project has to adhere to movement restriction by the authority to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The second proof-of-concept is cooking food based on mKitchen students’ business plan