Sociodemographic and work‐related variation in employees’ lunch eating patterns

Sandwich or long lunch? Lack of time and attendance of food outlets by French workers

Purpose

This study explores the relation between workers' choices of food outlets for lunch during the workday and their time constraints.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,132 French wage-earners in order to identify the dimensions indicative of lack of time among workers and to examine their associations with the likelihood of different food outlet choices.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis revealed four dimensions indicative of lack of time. Binary logistic regressions revealed that each dimension was linked to at least one food outlet choice. This research suggests that the dietary practices of workers are associated with their time constraints.

Practical implications

Time constraints play a role in attendance of food outlets for lunch and should be taken into account when promoting healthier lunch behaviors among employees.

Originality/value

This is the first research investigating the links between time constraints and attendance of food outlets in the context of lunch during the workday.

Worksite health promotion and social inequalities in health

It is well-documented that higher educated employees have better health than the lower educated. The workplace has been put forward as a contributor to this inequality. We extend previous work on workplace characteristics that could influence employee health by asking to what extent workplace health promotion (WHP) can account for the relation between education and health. Two ways in which WHP may relate to health inequalities are addressed: higher educated employees may be more likely to use WHP than lower educated employees and the effect of WHP on health may be stronger for higher educated than for lower educated employees. Using data from the European Sustainable Workforce Survey which contains information on over 11000 employees in 259 organisations, we test whether three types of WHP mediate or moderate the relation between education and health: healthy menus, sports facilities and health checks. We find that higher educated employees are in better health and that use of WHP positively relates to health. Use of healthy menus and sports facilities in the workplace can contribute to increasing health inequalities, as lower educated employees are less likely to make use of these. Health checks could contribute to diminishing health inequalities, as lower educated employees are more likely to use them compared to higher educated employees. The effect of WHP is not contingent on education. We advise stimulating lower educated employees to make more use of WHP, which can contribute to decreasing health inequalities.

Food waste case study and monitoring developing in Finnish food services

For enhancing food waste weighing measurements we established a platform (Restaurant Forum RF) for different kinds of food service businesses. Our aim was to explore food waste data, but also to develop a monitoring system by increasing our knowledge about the relevant processes and possible internal barriers. We studied food waste generation and origin in the outlets and how to avoid overproduction of food and buffet line waste. During 2016-2017, a number of outlets (n = 51) conducted food waste measurements over a period of two weeks. The businesses that participated included schools, day-care centres and work place and student canteens, which present sectors that mainly serve a lunch buffet. According to our results, 17.5% of all prepared food ended up as waste, which can be further divided into kitchen waste (2.2%), serving waste (11.3%) and customer leftovers (3.9%). On average, 449 g of food was prepared per portion and 78 g of this ended up as waste. We also studied the mechanisms of waste generation, best practices for decreasing food waste, how staff experienced weighing measurements and how measurement systems can be utilized in food service business management.