Background:

Food wasted in retail in Latinamerica (15%) could supply the nutritional needs of 64% of the hungry in the region.

Objective:

To determine food waste in three food services of the Rodrigo Facio campus of the Universidad de Costa Rica, using the measurement guide of the Costa Rican Network to reduce food loss and waste.

Materials and Methods:

Waste in food services N1 and N2 were measured in 2018 and 2019, and in the N3 in 2019. In total 15 measurements were made following the methodology of the guide and they were reported as a percentage of total solids production.

Results:

Waste in total production was 15.0-16.6% in 2018 and 6.4-11.5% in 2019. No differences were found between food services in average production (p=0.1467), in the waste storage area (p=0.1293), nor food production (p = 0.7718). Differences in waste were found between food services in the service area: Waste in the service bar (p=0.0197), in plate/breakfast (p=0.0075), and in plate/lunch (p=0.0362).

Conclusions:

The amount of waste found is lower than that reported in other studies.

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