5 things: Study examines food waste in hospitals

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Research shows that a hospital serving 6,640 patient meals per week can produce as much as 48,0000 lbs. of food a year, equivalent to 24 tons of wasted organic material, an issue addressed in a recent study titled “Hospital Food Waste: Reducing Waste and Cost to our Health Care System and Environment.” While not always avoidable, the report suggests much of the waste can be avoided with appropriately implemented measures. “A related study reported that just 28 percent of meals ordered were eaten completely and 29 percent were less than half eaten. Thirty-nine percent of the food served to patients was returned to the kitchen as food waste,” the researchers state. Similar rates are observed in non-solid food waste such as infant formula with studies reporting “that 61 percent of prepared infant formula and 18 percent-62 percent of enteral formulas can be wasted.”

Read more: New Study Disentangles the Healthcare Food Waste Issue and Study: Healthcare Food Waste Hard to Measure

Mount Vernon Community School in Virginia carried nearly $1,700 in school lunch debt until Sarah Stusek, a local film director with more than 88,000 followers on the TikTok video platform, stepped in, recording herself offering to wipe out the entire balance out of her own pocket—and then doing just that. Inspired, her followers then flooded her with more than $3,000 in donations and offered suggestions of other schools to help.

Related:5 things: University of Michigan commits to 55% plant-based by 2025

Read more: Student Lunch Debt Is Expected to Rise. TikTokers to the Rescue?

The cafeteria at Hostos Community College in the Bronx has been closed since spring 2020 when the COVID-19 struck New York, and hungry students who have returned to campus want it back. Hostos students recently demanded the college reopen its school cafeteria at a rally inside a campus building, saying their waning energy levels due to lack of access to nutrition on campus have made it harder to get through classes.

Read more: Students Hangry at CUNY Cafeteria Still Shut Two Years After Return to Class

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) have announced a new partnership to provide every New York City health care practitioner with free introductory training in nutrition and lifestyle medicine. The initial phase will include practitioners at 20 hospitals and health systems, with a $44 million investment from ACLM covering training for up to 200,000 doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians and other health care professionals in New York City, reportedly the largest lifestyle medicine training rollout in the world. “Our administration has invested in expanding lifestyle medicine programming and plant-based meals at NYC Health Hospitals, and now, we’re bringing this evidence-based model to all of New York City’s health care workforce," Adams said.

Related:5 tech things: White paper shows growing senior living acceptance of dining robots

Read more: Mayor Adams, American College of Lifestyle Medicine Announce $44 Million to Offer Lifestyle Medicine Foundational Training to Every NYC Health Care Practitioner

Students at Stirling University, a public college in Scotland with an enrollment of 17,000 students, have voted to compel the school to go meat-free by 2025. The move comes as Scotland's parliament is considering a citizen petition that calls for the government to ban meat production in the country altogether by 2040.

Read more: Students at Stirling University Vote To Ban Meat and Dairy Sales on Campus

Bonus: Mayo Clinic points the way forward in healthcare dining service

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]