Infuse Infuse 2 December 2017 | Page 34

well in advance of meal times, and large
amounts of food are produced in a bulk
cooking model to be delivered at set meals
time each day. With the room service or the
“cook on demand” model, food is only
produced when ordered and when a
patient feels like eating;
therefore, the significant
food waste associated with
the bulk cooking, long
lead time forecasting
models is expected to
reduce.
meal times, it can also be between these
times. We have seen patients ordering
scrambled eggs at 3pm in the afternoon
or a pizza at 11am.
It also required a significant shift to
embrace the use of
technology in
implementation of our
electronic menu
management system.
Many of the previously
manual tasks are replaced
by this electronic system,
which allows us to take
personalised meal orders,
track each meal delivery,
and then monitor a patient’s
meal order pattern and
nutritional intake to ensure
that their nutritional requirements are
being met. This was a major change to the
way we produce and deliver food, and has
greatly enhanced the safety and clinical
monitoring around our patients’
food intake.
“Our research
has shown that
overall average
plate waste has
reduced from
29% to 12%.”
In addition to this, plate
waste, which is well
documented in the
literature between 30-50%,
is significantly reduced, as
patients order when the
feel like eating, and therefore eat almost
all of the food that they have ordered.
Our research has shown that our overall
average plate waste has reduced from
29% to 12%. Specifically, we have seen
the greatest reduction in plate waste in
groups that are typically the hardest to
feed, such as the oncology group. This
group saw a reduction from 34% to 6%.
These reductions in waste contribute to
significant cost savings for the organisation.
Reduction of food wastage has been a
benefit of the room service program. Was
this intentional, or an unexpected yet
positive side effect [and can you share any
examples or stats on the percentages of
reduction]?
What advice would you have for dietitians
in foodservice who may be seeking to
implement a similar initiative at their
institution?
There is typically significant food waste in
traditional hospital foodservice models
because patients orders are taken
© Dietitian Connection
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Infuse | December 2017