Abstract
Food waste (FW) has been linked with nutrient intake, menu performance, food acceptability, costs and environmental impacts. This study aims to evaluate the FW in the wards of a Portuguese public hospital. The evaluation of the FW of lunch meals was performed during 21 days, to all new hospitalized patients (n = 105) admitted in four hospital wards (Medicine (Med), Paediatrics (Ped), Oncology (Onc) and Orthopaedics (Ort)). For each patient, the type of diet and FW were evaluated during the length of hospital stay (covering 321 meals). The FW of the dish was calculated by the physical method by weighing and the soup by the method of visual estimation, evaluating before and after distribution. The patients have a mean 3.1 ± 2.2 day length of hospital stay. In relation to the FW of the dish per ward, that in the Ped ward it was 72.6%, Med 47.5%, Onc 46.9% and Ort 58.4% (ρ = 0.027). The FW for Ped soup was 67.1%, Med 30.9%, Onc 29.4% and Ort 35.2% (ρ = 0.018). The FW values are high, especially in the paediatric ward. The institutions are unaware of the FW produced and given the magnitude of the problem it is necessary to implement effective measures.
Highlights
The hospital’s food service is a fundamental issue in patient care, being crucial in their recovery [1]
The provision of adequate diets to the patient should be the responsibility of the food and nutrition service of each hospital, and the hospital diet must guarantee the adequate supply of nutrients to the hospitalized patient, allowing it to preserve and/or recover its nutritional status through its co-therapeutic role in chronic and acute diseases [5]
Food waste (FW) has become an object of discussion of the hospital food service [6,7,8], since it is seen as the cause of many negative effects, including health, economic, social and environmental issues [9]
Summary
The hospital’s food service is a fundamental issue in patient care, being crucial in their recovery [1]. Meals served during the length of hospital stay are an extremely important condition for hospital treatment and for patient recovery [3,4]. Food waste (FW) has become an object of discussion of the hospital food service [6,7,8], since it is seen as the cause of many negative effects, including health, economic, social and environmental issues [9]. This study suggested some factors with impact on FW, such as the clinical condition of the patients, the number of portions and the available alternatives, the ward, the difficulty in accessing food, the type of menus, the meal production system and the quality of the food
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