Food Waste Focus » Northwest http://blog.leanpath.com Insights from LeanPath - The Food Waste Experts Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:48:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Do you use F.L.O.S.S.? http://blog.leanpath.com/2009/10/do-you-use-floss/ http://blog.leanpath.com/2009/10/do-you-use-floss/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000 Jennifer Hancox http://blog.leanpath.com/?p=506 A little while back, I attended the webinar for The Achieve Green NW online workshop: “Composting, and Purchasing in Food Service Operations“.  This was a very informative webinar.  Thanks to all the presenters!

There was a lot of information and real life examples.  One great term that was mentioned was F.L.O.S.S.  They suggested using this as a guideline when planning menus and purchasing.  It stands for “Fresh Local Organic Seasonal Sustainable“.  Try to find food products that fit all 5 descriptions.  Sometimes it might be difficult to find items with all 5, (especially during the winter months) but stick to a guideline to have at least 3.  Or select the ones that are most important to you (example: local, seasonal, fresh).

By paying close attention to the types of food that you buy – responsible purchasing – will you get the best quality, freshest, healthiest and hopefully less expensive products.   And pre-planning your menus to the season will help you to reduce the amount of foodwaste in your operation.

]]> http://blog.leanpath.com/2009/10/do-you-use-floss/feed/ 0 Sustainability Discovery Tour Addresses Food Waste http://blog.leanpath.com/2009/08/sustainability-discovery-tour-addresses-food-waste/ http://blog.leanpath.com/2009/08/sustainability-discovery-tour-addresses-food-waste/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:00:50 +0000 Andrew Shakman http://blog.leanpath.com/?p=493 Last week, about 60 foodservice folks made the journey to Oregon to participate in the 2nd Annual Northwest Sustainability Discovery Tour.   Organized by Truitt Bros. of Salem, Oregon (a sustainable food manufacturer/processor), the event brought together a group of interested operators to see the “best practices” in the Northwest US, a region known for its early and fervent commitment to sustainability.

In addition to focusing in sustainable food systems (including visits to green bean fields during harvest and cherry packers), the audience participated in an interactive discussion about food waste.    I co-facilitated this discussion with Babe O’Sullivan of the City of Portland.  We found that the top issues facing operators around waste management continue to be 1) how to compost, especially when commercial composting options aren’t available and 2) how to address the issue of single-use disposable ware such as cups and plates.

Of course, we also spoke about source reduction and the critical role it plays at the top of the food waste hierarchy.  The participants saw this, more detailed, version of the EPA waste hierarchy and learned why it’s critical to start at the top and move down the pyramid after preventing and reducing as much waste as possibe at the source.   We also discussed how food waste tracking and source reduction are two sides of the very same coin.

EPA Detailed Organic Waste Hierarchy

EPA Detailed Organic Waste Hierarchy

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