Survey on the Current Disposal Practices of Food Waste left by Patients & Staff in 20 Hospital Foodservices

병원급식소의 환자 및 직원 잔식의 처리 현황 조사

Food waste left by patients in hospitals is an important indicator of the nutritional adequacy of the patients' diet and of their satisfaction with food. Food wasted by patients or staff in hospitals is one of the most serious problem in hospital foodservice systems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the disposal practices of food waste in hospital foodservices for providing basic information for an efficient solid waste management. This approach was achieved using a variety of qualitative and quantitative information including general food waste practices and measurement of food waste left by patients and staff in 20 hospital foodservices. The average food wasted by patients and staff per day was 402.20kg and 206.98kg respectively, being total food waste of 578.08kg per day. The mean plate waste of a staff was 115.95g, which was much lower than that of a patient (221.03g). As means of food waste treatment, most hospitals(60%) are using animal feed, followed by means of collection by contracters(15%) and disposal of waste collection after condensing. An average monthly cost for disposing food waste was 915,000 won and average 138.58 minutes were spent to dispose food waste in hospital foodservices.