USDA SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
UNIVERSITY OF
ARKANSAS
Guide to Conducting
Student Food Waste Audits
April 2017
530-F-17-001
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Table of Contents
Background
1
Why conduct an audit?
2
Planning your audit
3-4
Items needed
5
Instructions for student volunteers
6-7
Day of audit
8-9
Data collection
10-11
Food waste prevention ideas
12-13
References
14-15
About the authors
16
Appendix - sample log sheets
• • • •
l - ill
April 2017
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Background
On September 16, 2015, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced the United States' first-ever
national food waste reduction goal, calling for a 5 0-percent reduction by 2 030 (usda News
Release No. 0257.15). Food loss and waste is generated from farm to fork, including in schools and
households (Buzby and Guthrie and Buzby et ai.). This student food waste audit guide is intended to help
educate students about the amount of food they waste in their school cafeterias and to
encourage them to reduce waste and eat more of the nutritious foods provided through USDA's
school meals programs or brought from home.
To begin, students must first understand the scope of the problem. How much food or
beverage items do they waste (for the rest of the document, beverages are included as
"food")? Which types of foods are being wasted most? Why are students not eating
particular food items? Doing a student food waste audit in your school cafeteria will help
answer all of those questions. After studying the audit data, students and schools can develop
and implement food-waste reduction strategies that make the most sense for their particular
situation. A follow-up food waste audit after the strategy has been fully implemented can
reveal how successful a particular strategy or strategies were in reducing food waste. We
encourage students to organize multiple food waste audits in a school year to engage each other
in finding creative ways to make sure nutritious food ends up in hungry bellies and not into the
trash can.
At the end of this guide, we provide a list of food-waste reduction strategies. Most of the
strategies focus on preventing waste. Preventing food waste is not only the best way to make
sure children eat healthy meals, but it is also the best way to reduce the damaging
environmental impacts food waste has on our world (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Below you
will see strategies for dealing with food waste.
Food Recovery Hierarchy
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Why conduct a
student food
waste audit?
A • Student food waste audits are a quick way to learn
which kinds of foods go uneaten by students in a school
cafeteria. The data gained from an audit can help schools
develop specific strategies to reduce wasted food. Most
importantly, the audits identify why the students are
throwing certain foods away, which can help schools
develop strategies to encourage students to eat their
nutritious meals.
• Activities performed during an audit including project planning, data collection, data
analysis, and conducting interviews, can be incorporated into math and science curriculum or
used towards community service hours.
3 • After an audit, schools will have a better
idea of how and where to reduce food waste.
Reducing food waste can help schools save
money by reducing the cost of garbage
collection. Reducing food waste also reduces
the stress we put on natural resources through
production of uneaten food, while helping
reduce greenhouse gas pollution (U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency).
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
Food Waste - A National Problem
37%
24%
v
3 1 % of food at the consumer
& retail level goes uneaten
(Buzby et al.)
Only 24% of people say they
are very knowledgeable
about reducing food waste
(John Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health)
#7
Food waste is the single largest
component of waste sent for
disposal, much of which ends up in
landfills, where it generates methane,
a powerful greenhouse gas
(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
AUOTHJH
fOODWASTC
fRUfTft
VI GET ABU
fOOO WASTf
2
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Planning
your audit
A • Reach out to the school district's nutrition director or
school cafeteria director. Make it clear that the main goal
of the audit is to help find ways to encourage students to eat
their nutritious meals and not throw them away.
Put together a technical advisory team to help plan and implement the audit. Ideally, the
team should include a school administrator, nutrition staff representative, one or two teachers,
and a Parent Teacher Organization member. Involving teachers is important if the audit will be
linked to curriculum benchmarks, such as basic math and measurement.
Work with the team to recruit
student volunteers such as a green
team, student council, or Reserve
Officer's Training Coips class. A
minimum of four volunteers plus a
team leader is recommended.
Ideally, have 4 volunteers for every
100 students eating in the cafeteria.
There should be 1 separate audit
station for every 2 00 students.
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
An audit station usually consists of two tables. One table is where students drop off their trays
and get interviewed by volunteers in order to get answers on why they did not finish the food
items left on their tray. The second table is used for separating food items from trays into
buckets after an interview. The buckets will eventually be weighed and recorded (see sample
setup on page 8).
Arrive before lunch service on a day that
will have the same menu as the planned audit day.
Take photos of each item being served.
Determine which items are going to be collected
and weighed. For example, if green beans are
being served as a side dish, a bucket could be
designated for green beans on the audit day. If
there is more than one vegetable being served, it
may be easier to have one "vegetable" bucket.
Additionally, having a bucket for unopened items
can be useful to see how much leftover food you
could potentially donate.
Vegetables
3
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Planning your
audit (continued)
On a day before the audit, arrive early before the
lunch begins to identify where students usually enter,
where they throw away their trash, and where they exit
the cafeteria. This gives the team a good idea of traffic
flow before, during, and at the end of lunch.
D. Identify a good spot to set up tables for the audit station. Again, 2 or more audit stations
may be required depending on how many students are present during a particular lunch period.
Decide how to direct students to the audit
station. Put extra signs in the places where students
normally throw away trash with arrows directing
them to the audit station.
y. Decide which categories/food items will be collected,
weighed, and analyzed for the audit. The number of
categories will vary from school to school. An audit in an
elementary school may require 5 buckets, whereas a high school
may require 12 or more buckets because there may be more food
choices. The more categories there are, the more useful the
results will be. For example, it is a good idea to have one bucket
for each entree option available that day (i.e., burgers vs.
burrito). Make sure all food is accounted for in the respective
categories so students won't end up with an item without an as-
signed bucket.
Meet with cafeteria and custodial staff to discuss
the purpose of the audit and plan for how it will
proceed. Coordinate with them on how the trash will
be emptied throughout the audit.
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
Photo by Stephen Stui'divant,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Place pictures and names of the food items you want to
collect on each bucket.
4
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Items needed
Two tables per audit station. One table for students to
drop off their trays and get interviewed and one table to
place the food buckets (see sample setup on page 8).
Minimum of two large trash cans on wheels
for emptying the food buckets into after
they are weighed. A typical school
cafeteria should already have these
available.
~ Small trash bags to line the buckets . , ,,^ TT , .. , . ,
° Photo by Melissa 1 erry, university ot Arkansas
(optional). Lining the buckets make
emptying out the buckets easier as food won't get stuck to the sides.
Buckets! Five-gallon buckets at a local home improvement store sell for around 3 dollars
each. Grocery store bakeries or restaurants may also be willing to donate their extra
buckets. Five to 12 buckets should be sufficient for an audit station.
Q Scales. Hand-held luggage scales and bathroom scales are two options.
Hand-held scales with the display on top and wide handles can be
purchased for as little as 8 dollars. Keep in mind that a 5-gallon bucket
full of food can weigh up to 2 0 pounds and a half-full bucket of liquid
can weigh up to 2 5 pounds.
Photo by Stephen Sturdivunt. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Good signage that directs students to food waste audit stations.
Interview clipboards and pens.
Weight log sheet and interview sheets (see appendix for examples).
Gloves for handling food.
Printed bucket labels or food photos taped to the buckets. Food waste buckets need to be
clearly labeled.
Clothes and/or paper towels for spills and cleanup.
5
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Instructions for
interviewers
1 • When students walk up with their trays, say "Hello,
we are taking a survey, and we would like to ask for your
input. I'm going to ask you about the food items left
on your tray and record what you thought about them."
Look at their tray and mark down which food items they
left unfinished (drink containers too). Make sure to write
down the same name that is on the label on one of the collection buckets. If unsure, ask the
audit team leader.
2 * Mark each unfinished food item down
on the log sheet (one item per line) (see
appendix for sample log sheets). For each
item, ask the student "Can you tell us why
you didn't finish your [name of food]?"
and write down what they say. Only give
one reason per item - his or her main
reason. Try to get an answer that can
help staff fix the problem. Answers like
"didn't like it" or "tasted gross" are not
helpful answers. Instead, ask a more
specific question like "What about the
taste didn't you like?" in order to get a
more detailed answer such as "I didn't
like it because it was too cold."
3 • Thank the students and ask them to
leave their tray on the table. If there are
many students lining up to be interviewed,
please be brief with each student in order
to get a response from as many students as
possible. After each interview is complete,
have them leave their tray on the table.
4 • If there are no other students to
interview at the time, ask the student if
they have any ideas on how to reduce
waste and write their suggestions down on
the log sheet.
The Art of the Interview
Photo by U.S. Department of Agriculture
Example 1
Interviewer: Why didn't you
finish your chicken lo mein?
Student: I didn't like it.
Interviewer! What about it didn't you like?
Student: It was kind of cold.
Write down "cold" for "chicken lo mein. "
Example 2
Interviewer: Why didn't you finish your carrots?
Student: I knew I wasn't going to like it.
Interviewer: What about them don't you like?
Student: Really, it was my only choice.
Write down "no other choice" for "carrots."
Example 3
Interviewer: Why didn't you finish your cookie?
Student: I was too full.
Write down "full" for "cookie."
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Instructions for
food separators
1 • Food trays should not be taken directly from
students. The interviewers must talk to the students first.
If a student tries to hand a tray directly to the food
separator volunteer, ask the student to please take it to
one of the interviewer volunteers first.
2 • After an interviewer is done talking with a student, take the lunch tray. Carefully put the
leftover food into the corresponding bucket. If unsure about which bucket to place an item, ask
the team leader right away.
3 • Stack the empty trays off to the side. Trays will be counted later to record the total
number of participants in the audit.
4 • All non-food trash must stay out of
the food buckets and be placed directly
into the trash can on wheels.
5 • If a food bucket or trash can is
getting close to full, let the team leader
know. Once the liquid buckets gets half
full, let the team leader know. Liquid
buckets can be difficult to handle even
when half full.
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
7
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Day of audit
Set up the audit stations and restrict student access to all
trash cans (set up signs that redirect them to the audit
station). Be sure to also restrict student access to the audit
station trash cans so only volunteers can use them. This
ensures that all food waste is accounted for and that the
data will be accurate (see sample setup on page 8).
Remind the cleaning crew about the audit and tell them where the trash cans will be.
Weigh an empty bucket and record its weight on the log sheet to subtract the weight later.
Bring the student volunteers to the stations before lunch starts and walk them through what
they will be doing. Ensure they are familiar with their roles.
HI During the assessment, check on the
interviewers to make sure they are
writing down useful reasons for why
students didn't finish their
specific food items. Check that the
food separators are putting items in
the right buckets.
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
Have cloths or towels ready to wipe off surfaces and clean up spills.
Once a bucket is getting close to full, weigh it and record the weight and type of food on
the log sheet. Do not let liquid buckets get full! Weigh them when they are half full.
After recording weights, empty buckets into large trash can on wheels.
When one trash can feels heavy, have another one on wheels ready to be used next.
Some students may not throw their food away until the bell rings in which case there will
be a rush of students at the end. If, near the end, volunteers are unoccupied, have them
walk up to students sitting at tables and ask if they are finished. If they are, then ask them
to take their tray to the survey table. Do not interview them until you get to the actual
survey table.
CI At the end of the audit, count trays, weigh the buckets, and record everything.
[~1 Thank students and staff!
8
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Sample cafeteria setup for audit
Step 4: Team leader directs
students, empties trash, and
acts as a support.
/
ft
10
Step 2: Interviewer notices
what food was not finished
and interviews the student.
Step 3: Food separators take the tray
from the table over to the back table
and start separating out the food.
buckets
I GLOVES I
Step 1: Students
drop off their tray.
Diagram by Stephen Sturdivant, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Data collection
Remember that the main goal of a student food waste audit is
to learn why students are not eating certain food items and to
make changes so that they eat more of what's on their tray.
Students finishing their nutritious meals will in turn reduce food waste and save the school
money by reducing trash-collection costs. Most importantly, well-nourished students are
better able to concentrate in class and can grow into healthy adults. After implementing food-
waste reduction strategies, a follow-up audit or audits should be organized on days that have
the same or a similar menu as the first audit so the data can compare the same food items.
Here are some examples of data collected from actual school food waste audits.
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
Student volunteer totaling weights by food type.
Category
Weight (lbs)
compost
36.3
liquid
24.9
stir fry
12.15
burrito
11.15
salad
8.5
hoagie
3.05
bun sandwich
4.3
pizza
2.55
cold sandwich
1
chicken
0.5
TOTAL
104.4
Sample data from an actual audit
212 UNFINISHED ITEMS
pineapple
Sample pie chart from an actual audit
pizza
mash potatoes
orange nachos
Chart by Stephen Sturdhant. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
bread
burger
chicken nuggets
chicken sandwich
cookies
fries
juice
rice
miscellaneous
stir fry
salad
hot dog
carrots
cheese sticks
chicken burger
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Data collection
(continued)
The answers given by students for why they didn't
finish certain food items is crucial in helping cafeteria
staff make simple changes to the menu or their preparation
methods so that students eat more of the food served.
Here are some examples of the data collected from the interviews. How would you deal with
the problem of uneaten apples?
APPLES
¦ I I I I
bruised doesn't like forced to take full
one
FRIES
full no flavor stail tastes bad crusty
STIR FRY
4
too much sauce
full need more broccoli
no flavor
NACHOS
"7
£
C
¦
J
t
2
1
1
1 1 1 1
cold
full
nasty meat tasted soggy dry cheese i
wrong
misc
COOKIES (ALL REASONS WERE "UNDERCOOKED")
P ZZA
crispy doughy
gieasy
Charts by Stephen Stwdivant, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1 1
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Food waste
prevention ideas
X • Recess before lunch. In one study by the Smarter
Lunchrooms Movement, schools that scheduled recess
before lunch reduced food waste by 40 percent.
In addition, students ate 5 4 percent more fruits and
Vegetables (Brigham Young University).
3 • Give food items creative names. In 19 28, canned spinach was children's third favorite
food behind ice cream and turkey because of Popeye. Students' taste expectations are increased
when food items are associated with something exciting. In one study by the Smarter
Lunchrooms Movement, schools that called their carrots "X-Ray Vision Carrots" doubled their
Consumption (Cornell University Food and Brand Lab).
2 • Extend lunch from 20 to
3 0 minutes. In one study by the
Harvard School of Public Health,
schools that gave students more
time to eat had 13 percent less
entree waste, 12 percent less
vegetable waste, and 10 percent
leSS milk waste (Harvard School of
Public Health).
Photo by U.S. Department of Agriculture
4 • Slicing fruits. In one study by the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, slicing apples resulted
in a 7 3 -percent increase in the number of students who ate more than half of their apple. The
average cost of an apple slicer is $ 12 7 and it took a cafeteria worker 3 to 4 seconds to slice
one apple with the equipment. To keep apple slices from browning, give them a lemon water
bath (Cornell University Food and Brand Lab).
5 • Use USDA's Offer versus Serve (OVS) provision. OVS is a concept that applies to menu
planning and meal service, and allows students to decline some of the food offered in a
reimbursable lunch or breakfast. The goals of OVS are to reduce food waste and to permit
students to choose the foods they want to eat. USDA's Offer versus Serve Guidance includes
a section about identifying reimbursable meals when using OVS. Please note that under OVS,
students are still required to take a half cup serving of fruit and/or vegetable" (usda Food and
Nutrition Service).
12
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Food waste
prevention ideas
(continued)
G • Involve students. If your school conducts taste
tests, one form of student engagement is to have them
create graphs of the survey results, which can then be
displayed in the lunch room. If your school does not
conduct taste tests, consider working with your
District Nutrtion Director to coordinate a "Harvest of
the Month" taste test featuring seasonal produce and/
or a new dish.
1 • Introduce salad hars into the cafeteria.
Salad bars may help reduce plate waste by
increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.
Salad bars are a wonderful opportunity to
showcase fresh, local foods. When planning a
salad bar, schools should ensure portion sizes
are consistent with the meal pattern
requirements for each grade group (usda Food
and Nutrition Service).
8 Photo by Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools
• Create share tables. Share tables are tables or stations where children may return whole
food or beverage items that they choose not to consume, if in compliance with local and State
health and safety codes. These food and beverage items are then available to other children who
may want additional servings. Non-perishable and complete food items left on the share table
may also be stored for another meal service, allowing food service staff to "recycle" food items
for a later time (USDA Food and Nutrition Service).
9 • Saving food items. Students who may not have time to finish their meal during the
designated lunch period may save certain meal components for later in the day. For food safety
reasons, this practice should be limited to food items that do not require cooling or heating,
such as whole pieces of fruit. This practice helps to ensure students receive the full nutritional
benefits of all food components offered during the traditional meal service (usda Food and Nutrition
Service .
10. Donate surplus food. Where it is not feasible to reuse leftovers, surplus food may be
donated to a non-profit organization, such as a community food bank, homeless shelter, or
Other nonprofit charitable organizations (USDA Food and Nutrition Service).
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Additional Resources
Brigham Young University and Cornell University. December 2014. "Lunch, Recess and
Nutrition: Responding to Time Incentives in the Cafeteria." http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/pa-
pers.cfm?abstract_id=2 5 3 610 3
Buzby, Jean C., Hodan F. Wells, and Jeffrey Hyman. "The Estimated Amount, Value, and
Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States."
EIB-121, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, February 2014. ht-
tps://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/eib 121/436 8 Oeib 121 .pdf
Buzby, Jean C. and Joanne Guthrie. "Plate Waste in School Nutrition Programs." Final Report
to Congress, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, E-FAN-02-009,
March 2 002. https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/4 8 20 4/PDF
Cornell University Food and Brand Lab. "Attractive names sustain increased vegetable intake
in schools" http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/outreach/whatname.html
Cornell University Food and Brand Lab. "Pre-Sliced Fruit in School Cafeterias: Children's
Selection and Intake" http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/outreach/slice.html
Harvard School of Public Health and Project Bread - "Amount of Time to Eat Lunch Is
Associated with Children's Selection and Consumption of School Meal Entree, Fruits, Vegeta-
bles, and Milk" www.andjrnl.org/article/S221 2-2672( 1 5)01 248-4/pdf
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - "Wasted Food: U.S. Consumers'
Reported Awareness, Attitudes, and Behaviors" http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/
authors ?id= 10.1371% 2Fjournal.pone.0127881
USDA Food and Nutrition Service - "Clarification of the Policy on Food Consumption Outside
of Foodservice Area" https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/SP41-2014os.pdf
USDA Food and Nutrition Service - "Guidance on the Food Donation Program in Child
Nutrition Programs" https://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/FNS_Guidance.pdf
USDA Food and Nutrition Service - "Offer Versus Serve - Guidance For the National School
Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program." https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/
files/cn/SP412 01 5a.pdf
14
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Additional Resources (continued)
USDA Food and Nutrition Service - "Salad Bars in the National School Lunch Program"
https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/SP31-201 3os.pdf
USDA Food and Nutrition Service - "The Use of Share Tables in Child Nutrition Programs"
www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cn/SP41CACFP1 3SFSP1 5 2 016os.pdf
USDA News Release No. 0257.15 (September 16, 2015) - "USDA and EPA Join with
Private Sector, Charitable Organizations to Set Nation's First Food Waste
Reduction Goals" www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid= 201 5/09/02 5 7.
xml&navid=NEWS_RELEASE&navtype=RT&parentnav=LATEST_
RELEASES&edeployment action=retrievecontent
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - "Sustainable Management of Food Basics" httpsl//
www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics
15
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About the authors
Melissa Terry - Master of
Public Administration Graduate Student in
the University of Arkansas' Political Science
Department of the Fulbright College of Arts
and Sciences, specializing in Food Policy
applied research and asset-based community
development.
Stephen Sturdivant -
Environmental engineer at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's
Region 6 office under the Sustainable
Materials Management Program.
Jimmy Nguyen - Works for
the USDA Food and Nutrition Service
External and Governmental Affairs, whose
mission is to be the creative force that builds
alliances to feed our communities. Jimmy is
also an agency lead on food waste reduction
efforts.
Photo by Melissa Terry, University of Arkansas
UNOPENED
FOOD
16
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Example interview & log sheets
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Student Interview Sheet
Location:
Date/lunch period:
Type of Food (one item per
line)
Loss Reason ("didn't like it" is
not enough detail)
Optional (if time permits):
ideas to reduce food waste
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Food Separator Weight Log
Weight of empty bucket:
Number of trays:
Food Type Weight
(Include weight of bucket)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
in
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