LIFE FOSTER NEWSLETTER N.1NOVEMBER 2019

# L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C T

W H A T I S T H E L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C T ?

The project’s main focus is TRAINING and EDUCATION

and PREVENTION and COMMUNICATION.

love food reduce waste

T H E L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C TA B A T T L E A G A I N S T F O O D W A S T E

Co-financed by the EU Commission LIFE Programme and led by the Italian network for VET, ENAIP NET, the LIFE FOSTER project aims at reducing food waste in the restaurant industry.The project will be implemented in France, Italy, Malta and Spain.

L I F E F O S T E R ’ S N U M B E R S

70

2000

7000

3600

Information on the actions of LIFE FOSTER can be found in the website: http: //www.l i fefoster .eu/act ions

500

10.000

TRAININGVET

CENTRES

POLICY-MAKERS

TRAINERS

PROFESSIONALS

STUDENTS

COMPANIES

# L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C T

W H Y T H E R E S T A U R A N T I N D U S T R Y ?

The restaurant industry produces 10.5 million tons of food waste (equivalent

to 21kg per person) each year, which

means, that it contributes to 12% of

the total food waste (FUSIONS, 2016).

Other studies estimate its contribution by 4 to 11% of the total food waste (ADEME, 2013), 11% (Garot, 2014), 13% (Waste Watcher Report, 2015), 14% (Ministerio de Agricoltura, Alimentacion y Medio Ambiente, 2013).

Although households remain the highest generators of costs associated with food waste, the food service industry comes in at the second highest.

A N D T H E H O U S E H O L D S ?

# L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C T

According to a study made in UK (Overview of

Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food Service

Sector, 2013), food waste in restaurants happens

during the preparation phase (45%) or for food

deterioration (21%) or due to client’s leftovers 34%).

Figure 1. Costs associated with food waste by sector (value in billions of euros)

F U S I O N 2 0 1 6

98€ H O U S E H O L D S

20€ F O O D S E R V I C E

10€ W H O L E S A L EA N D R E T A I L

1,8€ P R O D U C T I O N

13€ P R O C E S S I N G

# L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C T

The reduction of food waste enforces the economic outcome of a food service establishment, and the benefit-to-cost ratio is compelling: for every dollar invested in food waste reduction, restaurants can realize 8$ of savings (REFED, 2018).

In a typical restaurant, up to 35-40% of sales is attributed to food costs and approximately 12% of food cost is attributed to food waste. A system that tracks thrown away food could cut food cost by 2 to 6% by increasing awareness of food waste within the company and focusing attention on front and back of house prevention activities (REFED, 2018).

Figure 2. Incidence in % of the of the preparation phase, spoilage and customer leftover (Overview of Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food

Service Sector, 2013) 2

# L I F E F O S T E R P R O J E C T

W H Y S H O U L D T H E R E S T A U R A N T I N D U S T R Y P R E V E N T F O O D W A S T E ?

45% F O O D

P R E P A R A T I O N

34% C U S T O M E R

P L A T E S

21% S P O I L A G E

T R A I N T H E T R A I N E R S

Through training the partner’s trainers, this will result in the trainers training the students in the VET centres who in turn will practice this taught knowledge at their place of work in the restaurant industry and in turn teach their colleagues.

The first week-long training course was held in March for 16 trainers in Conegliano, Italy designed by the University of Gastronomic Sciences, which are one of the partners.

The goal for the training course was to educate the trainers and create a ripple effect when the same trainers train an even more significant number of students, in the coming weeks.

S E E O U R P H O T O G A L L E R Y H E R E

Among various training, the trainers were educated on:

1. Food Waste Hierarchy

2. Food Waste Analysis in the Food Service Industry: Flow and Leakage Points

3. Strategies and Solutions to Prevent and Manage the Food Waste

4. Menu as a Planning Tool

5. Menu Balancing (food cost, nutritional balance, human resources and equipment management)

6. Training Simulation on Menu Design

1 Estimates of European food waste levels. (2016). [ebook] Stockholm, p. 33.

Available at: https://www.eu-fusions.org/phocadownload/Publications/Estimates%20of%20European%20food%20waste%20

levels.pdf [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

2 Overview of Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food Service Sector. (2013). [ebook] WRAP, p. 27.

Available at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Overview%20of%20Waste%20in%20the%20UK%20Hospitality%20and%20

Food%20Service%20Sector%20FINAL.pdf [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

3 Vasavada, H. (2018). Carrot Top Pesto. [online] Milk and Cardamom.

Available at: http://www.milkandcardamom.com/2018/03/21/carrot-top-pesto

R E F E R E N C E L I S T

C O N T A C T

T O H A V EM O R E I N F O R M A T I O N

MAIL: info@lifefoster.euPHONE: +39 049 8658925

LIFE FOSTER: Training, education and communication to reduce food waste in the food service industry.This project is co-funded by the LIFE Programme of the European Union.

Any communication or publication related to the project, reflects only the author’s view and the European commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

© Developed by LIFE FOSTER - 2019