Food Waste in Schools: A Pre-/Post-test Study Design Examining the Impact of a Food Service Training Intervention to Reduce Food Waste

Mixed Methods Study Investigating Adolescent Acceptance and Implementation Outcomes of Serving Spicy Vegetables in School Lunch

Background

Only a few adolescents are meeting their daily vegetable requirement. At the same time, spicy food is increasingly popular and familiar across cultures.

Objectives

To explore the implementation of spicy vegetables into school meals, the primary objective is to determine adolescents' preferred degree of hot spice on steamed broccoli. Secondary objectives include estimating the appropriateness and acceptability of spicy vegetables in the National School Lunch Program and identifying strategies to promote spicy vegetables within school meals.

Methods

One hundred participants between the age 11 and 17 y sampled 4 steamed broccoli florets with varying levels of a ground red and cayenne pepper spice blend (0, 0.9, 2.0, and 4.0 g). Participants rated their likeability of each broccoli sample on a 9-point hedonic scale and answered a survey assessing chili liking, chili consumption patterns, appropriateness, and acceptability. An interview assessed perspectives on spicy vegetables within school lunch.Regression analyses assessed relationships between participant attributes and sample ratings and survey outcomes. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted to cluster together participants with similar sample liking ratings.

Results

Seventy-seven percent of participants reported that chili pepper makes food taste better, and 67% consumed spicy food weekly or daily. Chili likers (n = 41) were the dominant cluster group, compared with moderates (n = 31) and chili dislikers (n = 28). Thematic analysis results suggested that most participants support incorporating spicy vegetables into school lunch but mushy vegetable texture may undermine the impact of changing school vegetable spice levels.

Conclusions

Spicy foods are commonly consumed by adolescents, and these findings support the inclusion of spicy vegetables in school lunch. Additional research is needed to identify policies and practices to improve the texture of vegetables in school meals and determine additional strategies to support cultural humility in child nutrition programs.

Re-Licious: Co-Design with Adolescents to Turn Leftovers into Delicious and Healthy Meals-A School-Based Pilot Intervention

One-third of the food produced globally is lost or wasted, and one cause is consumer leftovers. Re-licious was an eight-week pilot intervention aiming to increase awareness of food waste and healthy eating by building adolescents' ability to prepare and cook leftovers. Re-licious used a co-design approach and was piloted in a secondary school, half of which was during a COVID-19 lockdown period. Students watched videos on food waste and healthy eating during class. They identified leftover ingredients at home and repurposed ingredients to create recipes. Students co-created recipe criteria to ensure the personal relevance of the recipes. They completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires (n = 40) about food waste and motivation and interest in healthy eating. Four group interviews were conducted. The factors identified as important in the co-creation sessions were preparation time, cost, healthiness, and sustainability. Participants with low motivation and interest in healthy eating decreased, and participants with high interest increased (p < 0.001). The intention to reduce food waste increased (p = 0.007), as did resourcefulness (p < 0.001) and personal norms (p = 0.048). Interviews highlighted the students' increased awareness of food waste and enjoyment of the intervention. With improvements based on this pilot, Re-licious could be adapted and re-trialled in a face-to-face format to educate young people about food waste.

Interventions to Strengthen Environmental Sustainability of School Food Systems: Narrative Scoping Review

School food systems play a role in the wider food system, but there is a scarcity of literature exploring interventions that aim to improve the environmental sustainability of school food systems. The present review aimed to understand and describe the types of interventions that have previously been explored to strengthen the sustainability of school food systems along with their impact. We applied a scoping review methodology guided by Arksey and O'Malley, which included a review of the online database Scopus and the grey literature. Information relating to intervention design, study population, evaluation method and impact were extracted. In total, 6016 records were screened for eligibility, 24 of which were eligible for inclusion. The most common types of interventions were school lunch menus designed to be more sustainable; school food waste reduction; sustainable food system education using school gardens; and dietary interventions with added environmental components. This review highlights a range of interventions which could positively influence the environmental sustainability of school food systems. Further research is needed to explore the effectiveness of such interventions.

The relationship between traditional and common Japanese childhood education and adulthood towards avoiding food waste behaviors

Japanese parents and educators teach children to refrain from leaving food in their plates. Their teachings have direct (advising children to refrain from leaving food uneaten) and indirect (meal-related rituals before and after mealtimes) influence in enhancing gratitude for food in daily life. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine 1) the interaction of direct and indirect approaches to avoiding food waste behaviors and 2) the mediation of gratitude for food by preventing such behaviors. Overall, 400 Japanese adults (female: n = 200) responded to a self-administrated anonymous questionnaire survey measuring: the present food waste avoiding behaviors; current gratitude for food; direct and indirect childhood approaches for avoiding food waste behaviors. Participants' mean (standard deviation) age and body mass index were 40.0 (11.6) and 21.9 (3.9), respectively. A significant main effect of the indirect approach and the interaction of direct and indirect approaches were obtained by adjusting the participants' background. Moreover, through mediation analyses with percentile-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals, it was observed that gratitude for food mediated the association between direct and indirect childhood approaches and avoiding food waste behaviors. Despite no information on the current meal-related rituals of the respondents, this study suggests the potential of these approaches in enhancing gratitude for food as a new approach to reduce food waste worldwide.

Sustainability Recommendations and Practices in School Feeding: A Systematic Review

Considering the importance of schools for sustainable food offers and the formation of conscientious citizens on sustainability, this systematic review aimed to verify the recommendations on sustainability in school feeding policies and the sustainability practices adopted in schools. The research question that guided this study is "what are the recommendations on sustainability in school feeding policies and the sustainability practices adopted in schools?". This systematic review was prepared according to PRISMA, and its checklist was registered in PROSPERO. Specific search strategies for Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, Lilacs, Google Scholar, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global were developed. The included studies' methodological quality was evaluated using the Meta-Analysis Statistical Assessment and Review Instrument (MASTARI). A total of 134 studies were selected for a full reading. Of these, 50 met the eligibility criteria and were included in the systematic review. Several sustainability practices were described. The most cited are school gardens and education activities for sustainability. However, actions carried out in food services were also mentioned, from the planning of menus and the purchase of raw materials (mainly local and organic foods, vegetarian/vegan menus) to the distribution of meals (reduction of organic and inorganic waste: composting, recycling, donating food, and portion sizes). Recommendations for purchasing sustainable food (organic, local, and seasonal), nutrition education focused on sustainability, and reducing food waste were frequent; this reinforces the need to stimulate managers' view, in their most varied spheres, for the priority that should be given to this theme, so that education for sustainability is universally part of the curricula. The importance of education in enabling individuals to promote sustainable development is reaffirmed in Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). The development of assessment instruments can help monitor the evolution of sustainable strategies at schools and the main barriers and potentialities related to their implementation.