Food Waste Focus

There were two interesting articles published today in Iowa about foodservice operators using automated food waste tracking systems (from LeanPath) to minimize food waste and lower food costs. Lori Anderson from Iowa Health St. Luke’s Hospital noted in the Des Moines Register: “It was unbelievable the amount of food that was wasted. It might be [...]

The New York Times recently published a column titled That’s Not Trash, That’s Dinner which offered a series of useful suggestions for ways to use fruit and vegetable trimmings that often go to waste: CARROT, CELERY AND FENNEL LEAVES Mix small amounts, finely chopped, with parsley as a garnish or in salsa verde: all are [...]

Popular Science published a feature article in July 2011 titled “Are We Ignoring the Small but Brilliant Innovations That Could Bridge the Energy Gap?“   The piece focuses on the benefit of using food waste (and other organic waste) to produce biogas, an important energy source. According to the article, the American Biogas Council estimates the [...]

The Iowa Health System is back in the news with this TV news story on KCCI-TV Des Moines. The story explains how Iowa Health has used automated food waste tracking systems to reduce food waste significantly. This story supports a core principal of waste management:  prevention and minimization should be our top priorities.  To achieve [...]

The Iowa Health System, which cares for 2.5 million patients each year,  has been working to prevent and minimize food waste at healthcare sites across the state of Iowa.  They started over three years ago, in 2008, and have grown the effort to six hospitals spanning the state. How has Iowa Health tackled source reduction [...]

No one wins when foodservice operations waste food.   Not only does the waste consume scarce financial resources and create adverse environmental impacts, it also takes food out of the system that might otherwise feed hungry people. The US Environmental Protection Agency lists “feeding hungry people” as the second highest strategy for handling food waste (one [...]

Toque Magazine, an online resource for culinary professionals focused on “what’s happening in the kitchen,”  just published a good overview article on food waste. The author is journalist Laurie Wiegler and the piece is titled “Whittling Away at Food Waste.“   It covers a range of contributing factors that cause food waste in restaurants.  It also [...]

The CBS Early Show ran a story on residential food waste on November 17th.  The piece focused on all the food thrown away in American homes. Read the CBS Story Although the challenges described in the CBS story are not at the same scale as those faced by commercial foodservice operations, some of the same [...]

(This article recently appeared in the July 6, 2010 On-line Issue of Food Management magazine) This Practice Can be Part of a Recycling Program, But Many Restrictions Apply. According to the FDA, kitchen waste may be fed to livestock, but there are regulations and restrictions that apply, and a food service establishment that wants to [...]

Jill Scott is the Assistant Director of Food Services at Ohio Health’s Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio where she has served for four years. She previously was with Ohio State University in the Hospitality Management Program and in Campus Dining Services. Initial Expectations The team at Riverside has been using the LeanPath system since [...]