HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND DAY OF THE WEEK AND THE LEVEL OF WASTED FOOD

Abstract

Background. Food waste occurs in the entire food chain, but to the greatest degree in households. For this reason, it is important to know both the causes of this unfavourable phenomenon and its scale in the area of consumption. The aim of the study was to determine the volume of wasted food in 500 households and per household, taking into account five product groups, and to examine the relationship between the ousehold size and consecutive days of the week on the mass of wasted food. The study was carried out in 2019 on a representative, nationwide random quota sample of 500 households, at respondents' homes, for seven consecutive days. It consisted of two modules: an interview conducted by an interviewer (the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews method) and a paper diary in which a person designated in a given household recorded the amount of food wasted on each subsequent day. Results and conclusions. Based on the study, it was found that in one week, an average of 3.9 kg of food was wasted in each household, of which over one-third of the average mass included inedible parts generated during food preparation. In an average household, fruit and vegetables were food products that were wasted during the week in the highest quantities, followed by bread and dairy products. It was found that in Polish households most food products and semifinished products were thrown away from a refrigerator and/or kitchen cupboards on Saturday. The dishes prepared at home and wasted to the highest degree were soups, which were disposed of mainly on Wednesday. More food was wasted in households with more than three people, compared to households with one and two people.