Designing and planning sustainable menus: A study on the application of digital modeling method

This study was planned and carried out with the aim of applying the digital modeling method in designing and planning sustainable menus in mass nutrition services (TBH). In the study, first, a survey was administered to the institutional dietitians via Google Forms regarding their approaches, opinions and suggestions regarding digital menu planning in TBH. Then, an Excel program was designed and developed to plan a digital menu for 3-cup set-free lunches for the target audience in preschool-age children, workplaces-workers, hospitals, nursing homes and prisons. These menus, created with digital programming, are for the same five target audiences as the menus in the National Menu Planning Guide (UMPR) and accessible on the internet; they were evaluated and compared in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, water footprint values, nutrient pattern profiles and costs, which are sustainability criteria. Expert opinions were received from panelists consisting of five expert dietitians regarding the digital program menus, and the program was revised accordingly. Nearly half (48.6%) of the dietitians (n:70) whose opinions and suggestions regarding digitalization were received at TBH stated that they had difficulty in menu planning, and most of them stated that digitalization would be beneficial to the profession and would provide practicality and convenience when developing standard recipes (97.1%) and menu planning (94.3%). It was also found that a significant portion of the participants thought positively about getting support from a digital platform (71.4%) and a data bank would make the job easier (84.3%) when planning the menu. When menus and food cup/groups are evaluated in terms of sustainability criteria; I. cup meals of all menus are higher in terms of carbon footprint, water footprint and costs compared to II. and III. cup meals; it was found higher in terms of NRF 9.3 score. UMPR menus with digital program menus, carbon footprint and cost of I., II. And. III cup meals; water footprint of I. and II. cup meals; NRF (Nutrient Rich Food) 9.3 score for I. cup meals; III. cup meals are similar in terms of SAIN-LIM class score (p>0.05). Carbon footprint (p:0.005), SAIN-LIM class score (p<0.001) and costs (p:0.002) of I. cup meals of the digital program and UMPR menus; the water footprint (p<0.001) and costs (p<0.001) of II. cup meals are higher than internet accessible menus. When each menu (monthly/lunch) is evaluated with the average of three cup meals; digital program menus and UMPR menus are similar in terms of carbon footprint, water footprint, SAIN-LIM class score and cost (p>0.05). The NRF 9.3 score of digital program menus is higher than both UMPR and internet access menus (p<0.001). The carbon footprint (p<0.001), water footprint (p<0.001) and costs (p<0.001) of digital programs and UMPR menus are higher than internet access menus. As a result, digital program menus were found to be similar in terms of sustainable qualities when compared to UMPR menus. Although internet access menus have fewer negative environmental impacts; it was found to be more negative in terms of nutrient pattern profiles. It is thought that the differences in sustainability criteria between internet accessible menus and digital program menus may be due to the lower frequency of high-cost foods such as meat, chicken and fish in main courses due to commercial concerns, budget limitations, etc. Therefore, the menus prepared with digitalization at TBH are prepared in a very short time; it has been concluded that it can provide great benefits in menu planning for reasons such as allowing easy achievement of sustainability criteria.