An experimental study on the prevention of food waste in commercial kitchens

Food waste is an issue on which projects are created and is researched by countries, supranational institutions and organizations, universities, non-governmental organizations and individuals. Food waste is planned to be decreased to half by 2030 and on this issue, researches and studies are planned to both raise awareness by bringing the related problem to the agenda and to follow up by obtained numerical data on national and international bases; including efforts and struggles to create solutions with large-scale partnerships formed when necessary. In the study on the reducibility of food waste in commercial kitchens, it is aimed to categorizeand identify the food wastes that occur during the preparation and cooking stages and to reduce the mentioned food wastes. In order to achieve this aim, the study was designed as a five-stage experiment with mixed method. Interview, observation, document review and experimental method were used in the research design. While experiment and observation, which are quantitative methods, are used to determine the amount of food waste in commercial kitchens; Interview, observation and document analysis, which are qualitative methods, were used in commercial kitchens to determine the foods that result the most food waste and to reveal the causes of food waste generation. The study was executed in commercial kitchens with an actor-chef focus. In the study, 19 chiefs and 6 chief academicians were cooperated; 47 in-kitchen on the job applications were installed. At the end of the study, it was determined that avoidable, possibly avoidable and unavoidable food wastes occur in commercial kitchens; food waste from all categories can be reduced in commercial kitchens; it has been observed that some of the unavoidable food wastes can be avoided in commercial kitchens, along with avoidable and possibly avoidable food waste. In addition, in commercial kitchens, food wastes generally occur during the preparation phase; but It was concluded that no food waste was produced during the cooking phase.