Leiblein, G, Tucker, MP and Hofer, S (2019) Factors influencing the occurrence of food waste in the food service process in hospitals – a literature review. In: RESEARCH PAPERS FOR THE 18TH EUROFM RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM . pp. 106-115. (Papers from the 18th Research Symposium, European Facilities Management Conference, 12-15th June 2019, Dublin, Ireland).

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Abstract

Purpose: Food waste is a current and very important topic everywhere food is produced and consumed. From the facility management perspective, food wastage involves much more than just wasted food. Food waste is process waste as it manifests where process steps are probably not working very well. Of course, food waste has always, and will always, occur to some extent. However, the amount and the areas where food waste arises in the food service process is of high value to know.
Methodology: The project is based on a literature review about factors influencing the food waste along the food service process in hospitals. The literature was searched in German, English, French and Swedish and was among the main topics of the search food provision, food service in healthcare organisations, malnutrition and food waste research. At the same time, all publications were recorded in a database. In a next step, the literature was assigned to one or more process steps or topics based on the factors described. This was followed by the renaming and combination of the factors to obtain a general wording.
Key findings: The results derived from this is a list of factors related to food waste in the food service process in hospitals. It contains more than 100 factors divided into the fourteen process steps of the food service process as well as two holistic topics regarding hospitals in general. Overall, there is a larger number of factors related to the process steps at the beginning of the food service process than later on, means after consumption. Furthermore, results show that the food service process is a difficult and demanding process. The fact that patients go to hospital to get well and not to eat, makes the whole situation additionally challenging.
Intended impact of the study: For the first time food waste from a facility management perspective was looked at in such detail. The food waste factors from literature are the basis to develop an observation guideline to complete the list of factors. Furthermore, these factors provide valuable insights about the complexity of food waste reduction as well as providing ideas to reduce food waste in the food service process in hospitals.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Divisions:	Doctoral Management Studies (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	EuroFM
Date Deposited:	17 Feb 2022 10:13
Last Modified:	03 Feb 2023 13:42
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16186

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