Food Waste Intelligence

A recently released, UN-backed study discovered a 7:1 ROI for food waste initiatives in restaurants and shatters the notion that the associated costs of food loss and waste can remain buried in operational budgets, accepted as the cost of doing business, or considered not worth the investment needed to achieve reductions.

In my years coaching chefs on how to prevent food waste, again and again I see three food items being wasted when they should have been repurposed.

A lot of chefs just aren’t sure what to do with them.

The big three are vegetable trim (broccoli stems, cauliflower cores, carrot peels, onions skins, etc.), fruits (whole and trim), and starches (rice, beans, potatoes, grains). It’s probably not a coincidence that none of these are high-priced proteins, which can sometimes be the only focus of a kitchen’s food waste prevention effort.

Repurposing is key to cutting the costs, labor, and unnecessary inventory caused by food waste. Here’s how to tackle the big three by putting them to use instead of putting them in the bin.

At a Royal Society gala in London January 30, Leanpath received the 12th annual Rushlight Environmental Management Award, one of the evening’s overall prizes for the most significant innovation in sustainable technology among 28 category winners. Leanpath also won in the category of Sustainability Initiative for work in expanding food waste prevention globally.

One of the biggest sources of food waste is trim waste from fruits, vegetables and meats. Some trim waste is inevitable. For that, try to repurpose. But some trim waste is created because of poor knife skills: a quarter of a bell pepper is left on top, meat comes off when fat is trimmed. Teaching proper knife skills is critical. Find out the chef on your team who is best with knives and have him or her give a tutorial. Short of that, we've collected some great knife skills videos to help out with teaching the basics. 

How do we feed a growing population without destroying the planet?

A comprehensive new report attempts to answer that question and in doing so draws a clear connection between feeding the globe a healthy diet and the imperative to reduce food waste.