Work

How accurate are food waste tracking systems? Insights from healthcare and hotel kitchens

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Food waste tracking systems (FWTS) have become increasingly common as monitoring tools in the food service sector. Yet, staff-reported FWTS data are subject to uncertainties from enumerator bias, and their accuracy has rarely been investigated or empirically tested. This study provides insights into the reliability of FWTS data from three hospital kitchens and one hotel kitchen. Using a staggered experimental design, staff-reported data (≥ 21 days) were compared with scientific control data (6 days) collected with the same FWTS under constant conditions. Staff-reported data underestimated food waste quantities by up to 80 %, with an average underreporting of approx. 29.4 % across mealtimes (breakfast, lunch, dinner) in the healthcare kitchens and approx. 30.7 % during breakfast buffet in the hotel kitchen. Our results also show that staff-reported FWTS quantities can shift the true mean toward a biased underestimation without widening the confidence interval, making comparisons appear precise but inaccurate.

Source: Resources Conservation and Recycling

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108689

Authors: Dominik Leverenz, Flores Javier, Eriksson Mattias

Institutions: University of Stuttgart, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability

Subfield: Food Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $5,270