According to the NPR article “For Restaurants, Food Waste Is Seen As Low Priority”, food waste is now the number one thing that goes into landfills and about 15 percent of that waste comes from restaurants.  Food waste reduction in the restaurant industry generally has not been a priority, since presenting quality food that showcases great culinary technique and skill is often the main focus.  However, this doesn’t mean that both can’t be done.

Proper handling and storage can greatly decrease the chance of food loss.  A little bit of planning ahead and using appropriate equipment can go a long way.  Use color coded cutting boards to avoid cross contamination and thermometers to insure correct temperatures of foods whether during storage or preparation.  And for ingredients or extras, it’s a good idea to find durable storage containers with good fitting lids.  This helps to keep items organized and on a timeline for when food needs to be used by and when to get more, as well as helps food last longer.  Proper storage also benefits distribution.  Foods are more likely to be kept fresh and secure, and spoilage or even spillage reduced.

Sometimes it’s difficult to realize how much usable food is being discarded in the preparation stage.  For example, many people don’t even necessarily think about the excess sauce or dressing lining a pan after the majority is scooped out.  Use a spatula instead to scrape pans clean. How about chopping fruits and vegetables? Using a corer to remove the stems and centers of a tomato or strawberry, for example, is a quick and efficient way to cut back on the amount of fruit that is lost by simply cutting the top off.  It’s surprising how much those little bits here and there add up.  And if you’re a chef who’d rather not put those odd shaped pieces that are often trimmed away on display, that’s fine—use them in a puree, sauce or soup instead where shape isn’t an issue.

Vollrath Spoodle® Utensils are ideal for portion control. Photo courtesy of Vollrath.

What is an issue though is over producing and under consuming.  Especially in the US, portion sizes have gotten off balance.  This means that food and money are being wasted at the consumption level.  Portion control spoons, servers, or even scales are excellent tools to measure the amount of food being served and bring into perspective how much the average consumer can manage.  Portion control is also financially beneficial since serving more than a dish is priced for is an easy way to lose money.  Of course it’s not solely the fault of the restaurants who are serving too much.  We as consumers often have eyes bigger than our stomachs and take more than we can actually use.  This is when food waste reduction comes down to educating people to make them more sensitive and aware of the amount of food they waste on a daily basis, much like the movement decades ago that made it culturally unacceptable in the US to liter.

What else can be done?  Recycle.  Redirect food, salvage it, and use it for something else.  This can include using it in another meal, composting it, or even donating to local hunger relief agencies.  With World Food Day recently being celebrated, it has never been a better time to think more closely about the tools and processes that can help reduce your food waste.

Do you know how much food you waste on a daily basis?  What tools do you use to help reduce it?

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