5 Ways Hospitals Can Reduce Food Waste

Decreasing food waste can be of huge benefit to hospitals and their surrounding communities. When hospitals tackle their food waste problem, the potential benefits include lower costs, increased patient satisfaction, and less food insecurity in their community. Here is how to successfully reduce food waste in hospitals using the following strategies.

1) Measure the Problem

Frequently, the first step in a hospital’s food waste reduction programs is weighing food waste, noting what’s thrown away, and tracking the times of incidents. Collecting data reveals the extent of the problem and provides information necessary to create a solution. When Gundersen Health System measured its food waste, the facility’s administrators learned the hospital was throwing away an astounding half-ton of food every week. 

2) Make Evidence-Based Changes

The next step is to use the data to show staff members what changes are required. Teaching new food preparation techniques can decrease food scraps. The data should show where there are opportunities for cost savings by lowering the volume of food orders. Gundersen Health System made changes based on their data. The result was an 80 percent reduction in food waste in hospitals and a savings of $30,000.

3) Offer Room Service

The typical hospital food delivery model is to send every patient three meals a day. Shifting to the hospitality industry’s room service model can yield a significant reduction in food waste. With the hospitality model, patients order from a menu and only receive meals upon request. The room service model practically eliminates unwanted and untouched hospital food trays. University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center at Parnassus saw a 30 percent drop in food waste when it moved to the room service model.

4) Share with the Community

Many hospitals discard leftover yet still edible food. Both UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus and Gundersen Health System solved that problem by donating leftover food to local charities.

5) Compost What’s Left

Large scale food preparation always produces a certain quantity of food that is not appropriate for people to eat. However, hospitals can develop a strategy to compost eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable peels, and other inedible leftovers.