Portion control in food service systems and the development of A measurement cup specific to Turkey

ABSTRACT Huriye TÜMER. Portion Control in Food Service Systems and the Development of a Measurement Cup Specific to Turkey. Başkent University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Doctoral Thesis, 2017 In order to provide healthy, hygienic, nutritious, low cost andhigh-quality food in service systems, it is important that the food is served in correct amounts. The per capita amount of food in each meal group is found in the technical specifications lists, whereas the appropriate portion amounts are found in the standard food recipes. Thanks to these weight measures, food consumers can satisfy their daily caloric and nutritional needs. Whereas insufficient portions cause people to fall behind these needs, excessive portions lead to obesity, higher-costs, environmental pollution and waste. One of the biggest causes of this imbalance in portioning is the lack of standardization in service utensils. The aim of this work is to research the service portion tools and the actual food portion served by these tools in institutions that provide mass catering services. The results will be compared to the standard portion measures and I will accordingly design new service tools that will achieve standard portion measures according to meal groups. The field research on which this thesis is based has been conducted in four staff dining halls in the city of İstanbul. The lunchtime food waste produced in these halls has been examined in order to calculate the per capita amounts of waste. The capacity of the service utensils to deliver the optimal portion amounts has been examined. The research concluded that the food served in University halls is %16 less than the recommended portion amount (p<0.005). The percentage of waste in meal groups has been determined as %13.6 side dish, %13.0 soup, %12.1 main course %8.7 salad/desert/fruit and %7.4 bread. The amount of energy waste has been calculated as follows: nursing home %17, public institution %12, university %10, and hospital %7. In accordance with the results, standard service portions specific to Turkey have been determined and measurement utensils appropriate to these capacities have been developed for both individual and institutional use. With these developed tools at the institutional level, the remeasurements of the food types in the research were made and the effectiveness of these tools was determined. The difference between the percentage of recommended meals and the percentage of recommended meals of the tools used by institutions was found to be statistically significant. It is aimed to contribute to adequate and balanced nutrition by ensuring appropriate proportioning with the use of these developed service vehicles and to protect population with insufficient nutrition and obesity. Key words: portion control, food waste, measurement tool, and standard service measurement.