Food waste management – reducing and managing food waste in hospitality

Abstract

Food wastage occurs along the entire food chain, from field to table. As much as it is an ethical issue on one hand, it also leads to economic losses and has negative impacts on the environment. Food wastage is, therefore, a significant problem for modern society and the first step in solving it is to identify and understand the reasons for its emergence in each part of the food chain and specific sectors – in this case, the hospitality sector. In order to create practices and recommendations aimed primarily at preventing food wastage, food waste categorization and quantification is essential. This is not that simple, especially in the hospitality sector, given the uneven production of food, and the specific and diverse ways of running a business in this sector. What is certain is that food waste management should be an integral part of management in the hospitality sector, primarily because an effective food safety management system is the starting point for implementing most of the practices that lead to both safe final product and reduction of food waste.