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.

The foodservice program at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is broad and ambitious. They have traditional patient trays, room service and a cafeteria, but they also have a full-service restaurant that operates Monday through Friday. They have a medically tailored meal program that serves the hospital as well as area nursing homes and adult care facilities. They also have a small-footprint grocery on site, stocked primarily with donated food for low-income area residents. A mobile version of the grocery will launch soon to travel into the area's food deserts. The mobile and stationary groceries also work with local minority owned restaurants to prepare meals. 

“We actually touch every county in the state with our meals,” says Director of Culinary and Executive Chef Dugan Wetzel.

Since January 2023, the Eskenazi culinary team has brought the same mission-driven ambition to reducing food waste with Leanpath, cutting their waste by an impressive 32 percent in just three months.

Leanpath is excited to announce a new partnership with menu management system provider CBORD. The system integration will allow commercial operators to migrate menus and food prices directly from CBORD to Leanpath.

In late April the ReFED team released new estimates on U.S. food waste in its Insights Engine – a valuable tool to help all interested food system stakeholders learn more about the amount and causes of food waste in the U.S., its environmental impact, and the types and effectiveness of solutions to address it.

Among many notable stats was the finding that by the time food gets to a foodservice kitchen’s back door, it already contains 80% of its greenhouse gas load. Further proof that food waste prevention—actually stopping food waste from being generated—is the most effective way for kitchens to reduce their carbon footprint when they address food waste.

The world is at an inflection point regarding climate change and the many sustainability challenges underlying theUN’s Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), including food waste reduction.

We’re at thehalfway point toward the 2030 due date for the SDGs, but we are not moving fast enough on many of them to make that deadline.

Given the critical nexus aspect of food waste, it is especially important that the world get on track for halving global food waste by 2030 as called for by SDG Target 12.3.