Food Waste Intelligence

The catering team at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust are working with Leanpath to prevent food waste throughout their foodservice operation. In their central production unit (CPU) alone, in only eight months, they have cut their food waste by 42 percent, preventing over 3.5 tonnes of food from going to waste.

Leanpath was initially trialed in 2021 in Guy’s Hospital Chiller Room, to track portion attrition, and one ward at Guy’s Hospital, to track over ordering. The Trackers allow users to log food types, loss reasons, waste sources (e.g. CPU or Dorcas Ward) and waste destinations (landfill, composting, retail, etc.). This information is captured to an online reporting dashboard where the team can finally see their full food waste stream, and make smart adjustments to purchasing and prep to prevent it from reoccurring. Goals can be set to reduce waste of specific food items, and alerts can be set for high value items being thrown away.

Led by Catering Central Production Manager Marcel Dueren, Leanpath use has expanded into St Thomas’ Hospital, which is where the CPU and a significant amount of the Trust’s patient feeding are located. He worked with the catering team, sustainability team and Leanpath to specify an approach that measured food waste across the entire chain of food throughout the Trust catering operation. This started in the CPU then extended to two wards, where they are now tracking unserved food and patient plate waste. This data has been used to make improvements to the Trust’s wider food production and purchasing schedules, resulting in a reduction of overall food waste.

LEVERAGING LEANPATH TOOLS

Marcel and his team use the Leanpath 360 Bench Scale, which is equipped with a camera to capture images of the food waste that is tracked. It gives Marcel an extra set of eyes in the kitchen, enabling verification that food waste has been accurately tracked and to see, for instance, if food was wasted for visible quality reasons or if produce is being trimmed efficiently to get the highest yield. 

Those food waste images and other tracking data are accessible via the food waste dashboard, Leanpath Online. That is also where Marcel accesses food waste reports, which he regularly reviews with his team, including team members outside the kitchen. 

“Leanpath Online shows you how much food you wasted by the day of the week,” Marcel explains. This came in handy recently when, unbeknownst to catering, an unusual number of patients were discharged. “We weren’t aware of this and saw a massive spike in food waste. We were able to share Leanpath reports showing that spike to reinforce the argument that we need to be told when changes are going to happen.” 

Another Leanpath tool Marcel has found invaluable is the automated Goals module, which identifies a kitchen’s highest food waste items and sets time-bound goals to reduce them. A goal was set to reduce potato waste by 25 percent; Marcel’s team crushed the goal, reducing the waste by 54 percent. Another goal to reduce vegetable waste by 25 percent? Marcel’s team reduced it by 49 percent.

“The goals give us a chance to celebrate success with the ward level staff,” he says. “Also, the unit manager sees the goals emails and is able to congratulate the team. It’s great for motivation.”

CHANGING HABITS AND OTHER BENEFITS

The Trust now has measurability and control over what they throw away, which has enabled them to look at how they can streamline purchasing and production. Catering has an improved view of what and how much food they need to be producing. 

At ward level, the catering team tracks both overordered portions and patient plate waste. The team can now have conversations with the clinical team about the amount of food not being consumed. The Independent Review signaled that malnourished patients spend up to 30% longer in hospital, so there is an opportunity to improve patient feeding as a part of their recovery plan.

Meanwhile, operator habits in the CPU have changed. For example how they utilize what’s in the Bratt pans. They now record and communicate yields for improved production compliance and are more aware of what they are doing with regards to generating waste. Staff regularly check in with Marcel and ask, “How are we doing on waste?” which represents a large culture change in attitudes. Regular supervision and communication disciplines – feeding waste data back to the team – keeps them engaged and focused on reducing food waste.

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