Development of a food waste prevention strategy: a case study in a hotel in Eastern Morocco

Abstract

The present work concerns the development of a food waste prevention strategy in a restaurant operating within a hotel in the city of Saidia in Eastern Morocco. The food service sector was chosen for this study because it is the second highest contributing sector to food waste on the global scale. Therefore, the role it plays in environmental pollution should not be neglected. The food waste prevention strategy adopted in this work consisted in performing a food waste audit at first. Then, the purchasing, storage, and handling conditions of food were improved. Finally, waste sorting was performed. The average daily food waste generated by the case study restaurant was 320.3 kg/day. The highest amount of average daily food waste (166.7 kg/day) was generated during food preparation, while storage waste had the lowest amount (30.1 kg/day). The most wasted food commodities were vegetables (50.8 kg/day), fruits (47.1 kg/day), sauces (39.9 kg/day), and cereals (38.4 kg/day). While the least wasted food commodities were eggs (10.2 kg/day) and dairy products (11.7 kg/day). The majority of the food waste generated in this study was avoidable, and fish and seafood were the food commodities with the lowest Eco-efficiency (high cost – high waste). The food waste percentage decreased from 35% to 20% within approximately 4 months following the execution of the food waste prevention strategy.