Food consumption and plate waste study in a public hospital food service in Natal, RN, Brazil

Aiming to better understand the food waste and eating habits of diners, this study determined, by sex, food consumption and plate waste in the lunch meal served to employees at a public hospital in Natal, RN, Brazil, during one week. Men consumed 34% more than women did. The average consumption of the week by men and women was 469 g. Women wasted, on average, 9% of what they placed on their plates, or 39 g per day. Men wasted, on average, 5% of what they placed on their plates, discarding 34 grams of food per day. According to these results, women wasted 4% more than men did. The average PW% of the week was of 7.7% (37 g per capita per day). The food wasted during the 5 days of distribution would have been enough to serve lunch to a total of 122 diners. The data here provided are useful for several reasons, as this study may be used as reference to evaluate food waste more accurately in the food service, to elaborate educational material to create awareness among diners and food service professionals, and to estimate the financial impact of food waste on the budget. One of the highlights of this study is the provision of data on the consumption and plate waste (% and in grams) not only by the whole population studied, but discriminated considering women and men, which is not the most conventional way presented by studies.