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This study explores the contribution of social media to food waste reduction among hospitality customers as part of the global net zero emissions agenda. It does this by using the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model to examine how social media food waste reduction promotion affects hospitality customer food waste intentions, mediated by social media-driven environmental motivation and sustainability-driven customer happiness. Moreover, gratitude towards food waste initiatives moderates these effects such that motivation and emotional satisfaction are more strongly associated with sustainable behaviors. We find that social media campaigns can effectively elicit cognitive and emotional engagement, which in turn strengthens food waste reduction intentions, using data from 404 hospitality customers in China. Furthermore, the study extends the SOR model to sustainability and consumer behavior literature and provides practical guidance for hospitality businesses to harness social media in engaging customers in sustainability efforts. Organizations can enhance the effectiveness of their environmental campaigns by using emotionally resonant messages and highlighting gratitude. Filling important gaps, this research explores mechanisms driving sustainable behaviors in line with strategies to achieve net zero emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to evaluate the impact of using the 'Getting Involved in a Change Process (ECP)' tool in promoting sustainable eating practices. A total of 16 public educational institutions (5 primary schools and 11 kindergartens) participated, with interventions spanning six months. Methods included regular workshops with kitchen staff. These workshops focused on optimizing food resources, improving meal quality, and promoting environmental awareness. Of the institutions involved, 87.5% (14 out of 16) completed the intervention, and 68% successfully implemented at least one sustainable change, ranging from increasing plant-based options to reducing food waste (Z = −2.971; p = 0.003). The findings suggest that, while the ECP tool is effective in motivating staff and reducing the environmental impact of public meals, full integration requires a supportive organizational structure and continued education. These insights contribute to the growing body of research on sustainable food systems in public institutions and their role in climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: This compact IoT datalogger enables real-time monitoring of environmental conditions, helping reduce spoilage and extend shelf life in perishable goods supply chains. It offers a low-cost, portable solution for optimizing storage and transport conditions. Perishable product losses can occur throughout postharvest handling. Proper monitoring of key environmental conditions during this period is essential for predicting quality losses throughout their shelf life. This paper presents the design and testing of a portable and compact datalogger for the real-time monitoring of environmental conditions throughout the food supply chain. The device developed incorporates high-precision sensors to measure temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration, luminosity and vibrations, as well as wireless communication capabilities for data transmission, simplifying real-time monitoring over existing multi-component systems while keeping costs affordable. Strategies to optimize power consumption allow a month of battery life, being able to cover entire periods of transport and storage, according to the results of the autonomy test performed on the device. The datalogger uses NB-IoT and relies on other wireless communication protocols if not available to send sensor data to a cloud platform. Comparative testing with commercial dataloggers has been carried out to verify correct device measurements, and field testing has validated successful real-time data transmission along an entire refrigerated transport route. The functionality and autonomy of the proposed device meet the needs of live remote monitoring to help reduce food losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste is a pressing global issue, particularly in urban settings, where substantial amounts of surplus food go unused. In corporate environments, this challenge is compounded by the lack of dedicated platforms to facilitate food sharing and reduce waste effectively. This paper examines the current landscape of food waste, existing solutions, and the need for a specialised platform aimed at corporate employees. The proposed solution is the creation of a user-friendly application that enables the sharing of untouched homemade meals. Suppliers can post their meal boxes with details such as location, type of food, and availability status, while consumers can search for and select meal boxes based on their preferences. This paper addresses the gap in solutions for reducing food waste within corporate environments. The meal-box-sharing app provides a practical and sustainable method for minimising food waste and promoting productivity, health, and safety in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying behavioral reasoning theory, this study examines the effect of social media food waste advertising on consumers' intention not to waste food, with customer–brand communal engagement and awareness of food waste consequences acting as mediators, and fast-food customers' altruism as a moderator. Structural equation modeling was applied to data from 422 customers of Malaysian retail fast-food chains. The findings reveal that social media food waste advertising positively affects customers' intentions not to waste food directly and indirectly through two mediators: awareness of food waste consequences and customer–brand communal engagement. The stronger mediator was awareness, and it indicated that cognitive factors play a greater role in pro-environmental behaviors than emotional ones. Additionally, this study demonstrates that customer altruism moderates the cognitive pathway but not the emotional pathway. The results of these findings suggest that social media campaigns should focus on both cognitive and emotional dimensions as well as personal value to maximize effectiveness. The findings have implications for fast-food chains to design more effective social media campaigns that promote food waste reduction as part of broader sustainability goals in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the major greenhouse gas emission contributors, the food service industry, particularly buffet-style restaurants, is responsible for reducing food waste. This study explores the factors that shape consumer behavior toward food waste reduction in buffet-style restaurants based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Social Exchange theory (SET), as well as analyzing the gender differences in these determinants, offering practical insights for the restaurant industry. This study also uses structural equation modeling and group analysis to examine a total of 547 valid responses gathered through an online survey, including 286 male (52.3%) and 258 female (47.2%) respondents. The findings underscore the attitudes, subjective norms, and establishment policies that emerge as critical drivers of consumer behavior in buffet-style dining settings. Notably, significant gender differences are observed in attitudes and establishment policies. In light of these results, we recommend strategies that include enhancing consumer attitudes and implementing penalty policies within restaurant operations. Restaurants could display visual signs and images related to reducing food waste, provide detailed portion size information, and apply monetary fines for excess waste to reduce consumers' food waste intentions. These strategies are particularly effective for male consumers, who are more influenced by these factors compared to female consumers. This research contributes valuable guidance for the industry's efforts to address food waste concerns, emphasizing gender differences and promoting environmentally responsible behavior among consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-cycle agricultural product sales forecasting significantly reduces food waste by accurately predicting demand, ensuring producers match supply with consumer needs. However, the forecasting is often subject to uncertain factors, resulting in highly volatile and discontinuous data. To address this, a hierarchical prediction model that combines RF-XGBoost is proposed in this work. It adopts the Random Forest (RF) in the first layer to extract residuals and achieve initial prediction results based on correlation features from Grey Relation Analysis (GRA). Then, a new feature set based on residual clustering features is generated after the hierarchical clustering is applied to classify the characteristics of the residuals. Subsequently, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) acts as the second layer that utilizes those residual clustering features to yield the prediction results. The final prediction is by incorporating the results from the first layer and second layer correspondingly. As for the performance evaluation, using agricultural product sales data from a supermarket in China from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023, the results demonstrate superiority over standalone RF and XGBoost, with a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) reduction of 10% and 12%, respectively, and a coefficient of determination (R2) increase of 22% and 24%, respectively. Additionally, its generalization is validated across 42 types of agricultural products from six vegetable categories, showing its extensive practical ability. Such performances reveal that the proposed model beneficially enhances the precision of short-term agricultural product sales forecasting, with the advantages of optimizing the supply chain from producers to consumers and minimizing food waste accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food loss and waste have been identified as significant contributors to existing environmental challenges. Previous studies have extensively quantified losses and waste throughout the value chain. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the influence of packaging design on food residue quantities. This study analyses the technical emptiability of dairy product packaging, building upon previously described methods and proposing new methods for a standardized analysis. The results demonstrate significant variations in residue amounts depending on product type, fat content, viscosity, packaging type and design, as well as consumer handling. The findings indicate that residues of high-viscosity products, such as yoghurt drinks and buttermilk, can accumulate to a level exceeding 4% of the total filling weight in the packaging; meanwhile, the residues of low-viscosity products, such as milk, collectively represent less than 1% of the total filling weight. Consumer handling instructions on packaging significantly reduce residues, as shown by the instruction to shake before opening, which notably decreases the residues of high-viscosity products. Future legislation to minimize food waste and reduce the environmental impact of packaging will necessitate that the packaging industry produces easy-to-empty packaging. This will improve sorting, recycling, recyclate quality, and environmental impact, consequently enhancing the sustainability of dairy packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crop pretreatment with silicon was combined with passive modified atmosphere packaging (PMAP) in a thermoformed recycled PET packaging format as a novel approach to minimize the quality degradation in mushrooms. This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of (a) two preharvest treatments, namely preharvest control (PHTC) and preharvest silicon treatment (PHTS) and (b) four packaging lid formats, namely PMAP1: a single hole of 1.1 mm size, PMAP2: two holes of 0.53 mm size, PMAP3: three holes of 0.53 mm size, and PMAPC: OMNI-PW micro perforated cling film as a control on the quality and shelf life of mushrooms during five days of storage at 4 °C and 99.9% RH. The results of the analysis of variance showed that packaging type, storage days, and the double interaction effects of storage days × packaging type had significant effects (p < 0.0001) on the changes in O2, CO2, colour L* and a* values, ΔE, total soluble solids (TSS), and the density of mushrooms. Density, electrolyte leakage (EL), and TSS were significantly affected by the double interaction effects of preharvest treatment × packaging type. Overall, PMAP1, PMAP2, and PMAP3 resulted in lower O2 + higher CO2 within packages compared with the conventional control. A preharvest silicon treatment had little overall effect. PMAP 1, 2 and 3 had a significantly lower ΔE (=better quality) after 5 days storage compared to PMAPC which had the highest ΔE (lowest quality) overall. PMAP1 and PMAP2 had the lowest EL values compared to PMAP3 and PMAPC. PMAP1, PMAP2, and PMAP3 all gave better TSS levels and density compared to PMAPC. Notably, this study proved that a perforation-mediated MAP design for mushrooms packaged in a thermoformed recycled PET packaging format maintained improved CO2, lowered O2, and reduced EL while maintaining TSS and the density of the mushrooms during the storage period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perishable product losses can occur throughout postharvest handling. Proper monitoring of key environmental conditions during this period is essential for predicting quality losses throughout their shelf life. This paper presents the design and testing of a portable and compact datalogger for the real-time monitoring of environmental conditions throughout the food supply chain. The device developed incorporates high-precision sensors to measure temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration, luminosity and vibrations, as well as wireless communication capabilities for data transmission, simplifying real-time monitoring over existing multi-component systems while keeping costs affordable. Strategies to optimize power consumption allow a month of battery life, being able to cover entire periods of transport and storage, according to the results of the autonomy test performed on the device. The datalogger uses NB-IoT and relies on other wireless communication protocols if not available to send sensor data to a cloud platform. Comparative testing with commercial dataloggers has been carried out to verify correct device measurements, and field testing has validated successful real-time data transmission along an entire refrigerated transport route. The functionality and autonomy of the proposed device meet the needs of live remote monitoring to help reduce food losses.

Digital, practical, user-friendly tools generate actionable insights for the food industry to develop effective food waste reduction strategies. This study aimed to develop a methodology behind a digital food waste estimator that may be used to calculate the potential food waste reduction and the environmental and nutritional reach impact by extending the shelf life of foods. The methodology for this tool incorporates a straightforward algorithm and robust data sources. Additionally, two case studies were analyzed and discussed to demonstrate the tool's application and effectiveness. The results from the food waste estimator revealed that by increasing the shelf life of poultry meat by 40%, waste could be reduced by 6–7%, CO2 emission by 457–567 kg, and water usage by 656,571–814,149 L/1000 kg of product. Meanwhile, by increasing the shelf life of bread by 20%, waste can be reduced by 5–6%, CO2 emission by 155–192 kg, and water usage by 248,000–307,520 L/1000 kg of product. This study demonstrated that the fundamental mathematical approach to and assumptions behind the food waste estimator can be effectively used to determine the potential for food waste reduction and environmental impact by extending a product's shelf life. Extending the shelf life of food may reduce environmental impact and food waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the dynamics of food conservation behaviors and operations, shifting the lens from the prevalent narrative of food waste reduction to a marketing perspective that emphasizes consumer engagement in sustainable operations. Amidst the rapid urban transformation and economic progress of many countries, this research examines factors influencing individual behaviors toward responsible food operations. It aims to delineate the motivational drivers and deterrents affecting residents' engagement in food conservation and operations, utilizing an adapted framework based on the theory of planned behavior. We employ partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze responses from 390 residents. We find that perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitudes significantly enhance intentions to conserve food. Moreover, environmental concerns amplify both attitudes and perceived behavioral control, while green marketing communications and knowledge elevate attitudes, environmental mindfulness, and conservation actions. A connection to nature is substantiated as a reinforcing factor for pro-environmental attitudes and operations. Notably, attitudes are identified as a critical mediator among the examined constructs. This investigation enriches sustainability scholarship by introducing a positive behavior-focused approach, advancing the discourse on sustainable operations. It offers actionable insights for market-driven interventions, policy-making (such as China's lastest national policies on food security and rural region revitalization in 2024), and educational endeavors to mitigate food wastage and reinforce food supply chain resilience globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual households make significant contributions to food waste. Combating this waste would allow for better food distribution globally that can help combat global hunger. As there is currently a limited understanding as to why people waste food, we conducted semi-structured interviews with people that had taken part in a food waste reduction study, to explore drivers that contribute to reduced food waste within UK homes. Using a thematic analysis, four themes were identified based around the importance of thinking about food waste, having a flexible approach to food waste, as well as being emotionally engaged in food waste reduction processes. It was also explored if others have a role to play in whether people try to reduce their waste; however, contrary to previous findings, such a notion was not supported here. The implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background. Recently, consumers have been increasingly interested in highly nutritional and health-promoting products in the form of functional foods that are produced using environmentally friendly processes as part of the circular economy. Therefore, much research has been carried out related to the valorisation of waste generated during the processing of food, especially fruit and vegetables, commonly referred to as by-products. These by-products consist of peels, seeds, stems or pomace, which have been shown to have valuable nutritional properties (high content of polyphenols, vitamins, antioxidants, etc.). Experimental approach. Considering these aspects, the aim of this study is to characterise three types of by-products of apple processing, namely peel, pulp pomace and whole fruit pomace, from a nutritional point of view. The total content of polyphenols, antioxidant activity, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and phenolic content were determined in nine apple varieties from two harvest years (2020 and 2021) during 9 months of storage. Results and conclusions. The results showed that apple peel had good nutritional properties, in contrast to the pulp or the whole fruit, which are often removed during apple processing. Therefore, the analysed by-products are suitable candidates for application in the food industry for the development of new products enriched with bioactive compounds. Novelty and scientific contribution. In this study, nine varieties of organic apples were analysed and the nutritional parameters were determined. The phenolic compounds of the studied apple by-products were analysed for possible reuse of apple processing waste.

Short-cycle agricultural product sales forecasting significantly reduces food waste by accurately predicting demand, ensuring producers match supply with consumer needs. However, the forecasting is often subject to uncertain factors, resulting in highly volatile and discontinuous data. To address this, a hierarchical prediction model that combines RF-XGBoost is proposed in this work. It adopts the Random Forest (RF) in the first layer to extract residuals and achieve initial prediction results based on correlation features from Grey Relation Analysis (GRA). Then, a new feature set based on residual clustering features is generated after the hierarchical clustering is applied to classify the characteristics of the residuals. Subsequently, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) acts as the second layer that utilizes those residual clustering features to yield the prediction results. The final prediction is by incorporating the results from the first layer and second layer correspondingly. As for the performance evaluation, using agricultural product sales data from a supermarket in China from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023, the results demonstrate superiority over standalone RF and XGBoost, with a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) reduction of 10% and 12%, respectively, and a coefficient of determination (R2) increase of 22% and 24%, respectively. Additionally, its generalization is validated across 42 types of agricultural products from six vegetable categories, showing its extensive practical ability. Such performances reveal that the proposed model beneficially enhances the precision of short-term agricultural product sales forecasting, with the advantages of optimizing the supply chain from producers to consumers and minimizing food waste accordingly.

This case study analyses food waste reduction measures in a corporate canteen, addressing environmental, economic, and social sustainability dimensions. By implementing seven actions such as raising awareness among kitchen staff, providing smaller portions and preparing soup from overproduction, food waste was reduced by 46% in two canteens serving up to 1800 people daily over the time period of six months. This preserved 343 kg of food waste, conserving over 450,000 kcal in nutritional value and yielding net economic savings of over 15,500 Euros, as well as environmental savings of over 31 tonnes CO2 eq. and 213 mPt PEF. The Benefit-to-Cost Ratio (BCR) of 0.03 kg of food waste saved per 1 Euro invested, along with the associated savings of 40.78 kcal, 2.74 kg CO2 eq., 0.02 mPt PEF, and 2.37 Euros, exemplifies the overall success of these actions. Therefore, this business case offers valuable insights into how (corporate) canteens can enhance sustainability and resource conservation by reducing food waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste is a growing concern in South Africa's hospitality sector, yet little about hotel guests' responses to food waste reduction stimuli is known. This study examines how hotel guests in South Africa respond to food waste reduction stimuli using the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model and prospect theory. Quantitative data was collected from 302 hotel guests using a structured questionnaire. The posited hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Social norms and food insecurity concerns were key factors influencing hotel guests' attitudes towards reducing food waste. Environmental sustainability concerns and perceived corporate social responsibility were found to have a negative effect on attitudes towards food waste reduction. The results showed that the promising strategy to promote food waste reduction is by invoking social norms and food insecurity concerns, as they are more instrumental in stimulating favourable attitudes towards food waste reduction. This study contributes to efforts to reduce food waste in the hospitality sector. Attitude change strategies are recommended to address the negative perceptions attributed to corporate social responsibility initiatives related to food waste reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suboptimal food is defined as physically imperfect food that deviates from the norm in terms of appearance without compromising its intrinsic quality or safety. Consumers' quality perception and acceptance of suboptimal food contribute to food waste. Therefore, this study aims to explore consumers' quality perception and acceptance of suboptimal food and the factors associated with the acceptance of suboptimal food. An online survey was conducted among 414 consumers residing in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, through convenience sampling. They completed an online questionnaire asking for sociodemographic information, quality perception and acceptance of suboptimal food, and information related to food waste. Only 11.4% of consumers chose suboptimal foods, with visually deviated suboptimal foods (apples with brown spots) having the lowest acceptance (9.9%). Consumers perceived suboptimal foods as unattractive and that they should be consumed quickly. Malays were less likely to accept suboptimal foods, while middle-income households were more likely to accept suboptimal foods at home. In conclusion, consumers have a low acceptance of suboptimal food, and suboptimal food was perceived as unappealing and that it should be consumed quickly. Notwithstanding the findings that emerge from this, the results may lack generalisability to the wider population as only a convenience sample was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste is a growing concern in South Africa’s hospitality sector yet little is known about hotel guests’ response to food waste reduction stimuli. This study examines how hotel guests in South Africa respond to food waste reduction stimuli using the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model and prospect theory. Quantitative data was collected from 302 hotel guests using a structured questionnaire. The posited hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Social norms and food insecurity concern emerged as key factors that favourably influence hotel guests’ attitude towards food waste reduction. Environmental sustainability concern and perceived corporate social responsibility were found to have a negative effect on attitude towards food waste reduction. The results showed that the promising strategy to promote food waste reduction is by invoking social norms and food insecurity concerns as they are more instrumental in stimulating favourable attitudes towards food waste reduction. This study contributes to efforts aimed at reducing food waste in the hospitality sector. Attitude change strategies are recommended to address the negative perceptions attributed to corporate social responsibility initiatives related to food waste reduction.

Food waste (FW) has been increasingly recognized as a severe environmental, social, and economic problem. Therefore, it should be tackled innovatively by analyzing and synthesizing existing solutions. This study aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of different social innovation measures adopted for reducing FW using a systematic literature review. After locating, collecting, evaluating, and analyzing 50 publications from four databases, we conclude that social innovation activities such as digital food-sharing platforms, social supermarkets, solidarity stores, and food rescue hubs are widely deployed in different FW reduction processes. Based on the findings, we synthesized several research gaps and proposed corresponding future research directions related to research methodology, country, food redistribution, food rescue, food donation, and food sharing. These directions include conducting research to develop suitable key performance indicators to evaluate the performance of digital food-sharing platforms, linking with specific theory to conduct empirical research on partnership analysis regarding social supermarkets, and investigating the structure of multiplex relations among different participants in the food rescue activities using social network analysis. We suggest that more keywords should be scrutinized and included when searching publications in future research as keyword selection is subjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste reduction, as a major application area of the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data technologies, has become one of the most pressing issues. In recent years, there has been an unprecedented increase in food waste, which has had a negative impact on economic growth in many countries. Food waste has also caused serious environmental problems. Agricultural production, post-harvest handling, and storage, as well as food processing, distribution, and consumption, can all lead to food wastage. This wastage is primarily caused by inefficiencies in the food supply chain and a lack of information at each stage of the food cycle. In order to minimize such effects, the Internet of Things, big data-based systems, and various management models are used to reduce food waste in food supply chains. This paper provides a comprehensive review of IoT and big data-based food waste management models, algorithms, and technologies with the aim of improving resource efficiency and highlights the key challenges and opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste has become a significant issue in the foodservice industry. However, food waste management in buffet restaurants has rarely been investigated. Considering the popularity of buffet restaurants in Taiwan, this study serves as the first attempt to identify a corporate management approach to food waste reduction in Taiwanese buffet restaurants. The study case comprises two buffet restaurants of a large chain restaurant company in Taiwan. This study uses both individual in-depth interviews and a focus group, comprising 15 managers, chefs, and front-line employees. The results identify various strategies to mitigate food waste in buffet restaurants at different stages of operation: establishing a central kitchen, cooperating with qualified suppliers, accurate forecasting of food demand, aesthetic buffet table design, redesigning the service method, continually monitoring food waste, and proactive communication to customers. The 3R (Reduce–Reuse–Recycle) food waste hierarchy is also developed to encourage buffet restaurant practitioners to design appropriate food waste mitigation programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, about one-third of food intended for human consumption is wasted along the distribution chain, in which advent food contributes a significant portion. Advent food marketing and consumption are suggested as the primary channel to use advent food and reduce food waste. With the booming of the advent food market, it is necessary to explore factors attributed to advent food purchase and food waste reduction behaviors. This study explored what consumer concern and value might influence food waste reduction intention in the context of advent food consumption. Based on a survey of Chinese consumers (N = 509), this study develops a structural equation and tests the hypotheses with consistent Smart-pls software. Results show that, as expected, health concerns, utilitarian value, and impulse buying significantly affect food waste reduction intention. Price concern, utilitarian value, and hedonic value exert direct positive effects on impulse buying, which negatively influence food waste reduction intention. In the mediating effect analysis, impulse buying partially mediates the relationship between price concern and food waste reduction intention. Theoretical and managerial implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Suboptimal food is defined as physically imperfect food that deviates from the norm in terms of appearance without compromising its intrinsic quality or safety. Consumers’ quality perception and acceptance of suboptimal food contribute to food waste. Therefore, this study aims to explore consumers’ quality perception and acceptance of suboptimal food and the factors associated with the acceptance of suboptimal food. An online survey was conducted among 414 consumers residing in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, through convenience sampling. They completed an online questionnaire asking for sociodemographic information, quality perception and acceptance of suboptimal food, and information related to food waste. Only 11.4% of consumers chose suboptimal foods, with visually deviated suboptimal foods (apples with brown spots) having the lowest acceptance (9.9%). Consumers perceived suboptimal foods as unattractive and that they should be consumed quickly. Malays were less likely to accept suboptimal foods, while middle-income households were more likely to accept suboptimal foods at home. In conclusion, consumers have a low acceptance of suboptimal food, and suboptimal food was perceived as unappealing and that it should be consumed quickly. Notwithstanding the findings that emerge from this, the results may lack generalisability to the wider population as only a convenience sample was used.

Lower birth rates and spoiling have caused students to become picky eaters, leading to campus food waste. In this study, 29 evaluation indicators for a black soldier fly biological system were established through a literature review and expert interviews. The indicators were divided into three dimensions, namely spatial composition, system and equipment, and environmental education. The 11 indicators with the highest expert consensus were identified through the fuzzy Delphi method and used as the primary indicators for evaluating the role of the black soldier fly biological system in promotion. The top 11 indicators with the highest scores mostly comprised indicators of the system and equipment dimension followed by those of the spatial composition and environmental education dimensions. However, among the indicators of the three dimensions, those of the "spatial composition" dimension obtained the highest scores. The literature review indicated that the theories related to knowledge, behavior, and attitude toward the environment should be applied to consciously motivate students to reduce food waste through explicit actions. The integration of the aforementioned system with experiential agricultural education can reduce campus food waste. Participatory learning increases the willingness of students to improve appropriate environmental attitudes and healthy diets on the basis of promoting environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how role model stories may inspire food waste reduction during times of perceived food scarcity. We conducted a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment (N = 358, U.S. adults) to test the effectiveness of messages that emphasized role model success (reduced waste/zero-waste) and achievement difficulty (easy/difficult) on intentions to set a personal food waste goal. Exposure to role models who lived a zero-waste lifestyle had a self-deflating effect, as this behavior was viewed as less attainable by participants. Regardless of difficulty framing, exposure to role models who reduced their waste enhanced participants’ perceptions of goal attainability, motivation, and intentions. No interaction effects were found between levels of success and achievement difficulty. Considering covariates, individuals who reported enhanced food waste awareness due to COVID-19 reported higher goal setting intentions. Hence, times of perceived food scarcity may provide an ideal opportunity for promoting food waste reduction and conservation strategies. Results from this study provide guidance for how role model stories can best inspire waste reduction without hindering attainability and motivation. We discuss implications for applying the motivational theory of role modeling in conservation and communication contexts.

Food waste has become a significant issue in the foodservice industry. However, food waste management in buffet restaurants has rarely been investigated. Considering the popularity of buffet restaurants in Taiwan, this study serves as the first attempt to identify a corporate management approach to food waste reduction in Taiwanese buffet restaurants. The study case comprises two buffet restaurants of a large chain restaurant company in Taiwan. This study uses both individual in-depth interviews and a focus group, comprising 15 managers, chefs, and front-line employees. The results identify various strategies to mitigate food waste in buffet restaurants at different stages of operation: establishing a central kitchen, cooperating with qualified suppliers, accurate forecasting of food demand, aesthetic buffet table design, redesigning the service method, continually monitoring food waste, and proactive communication to customers. The 3R (Reduce–Reuse–Recycle) food waste hierarchy is also developed to encourage buffet restaurant practitioners to design appropriate food waste mitigation programs.

This article addresses the issue of reducing food waste by way of digital sharing economy platforms, which promote sharing by donating, selling and exchanging surplus food among institutions, commercial establishments and end consumers, thus boosting accessibility and improving food security. In order to succeed, these platforms need to be accepted by the market, but little is known about the acceptance and use factors of these platforms. Therefore, the study presented in this article identifies the factors that influence the acceptance and use of such platforms. The Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) was used as a theoretical basis for developing an embedded case study on the Ecofood platform. In addition to secondary data collection, interviews and direct observations were carried out in two cities in Southern Brazil. Effort expectancy was identified as the key factor for use behavior, and two new factors (trust and gratefulness) were identified as factors that influence intention behavior and use of the platform. Three propositions were developed to summarize the findings and guide future research.

This article addresses the issue of reducing food waste by way of digital sharing economy platforms, which promote sharing by donating, selling and exchanging surplus food among institutions, commercial establishments and end consumers, thus boosting accessibility and improving food security. In order to succeed, these platforms need to be accepted by the market, but little is known about the acceptance and use factors of these platforms. Therefore, the study presented in this article identifies the factors that influence the acceptance and use of such platforms. The Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) was used as a theoretical basis for developing an embedded case study on the Ecofood platform. In addition to secondary data collection, interviews and direct observations were carried out in two cities in Southern Brazil. Effort expectancy was identified as the key factor for use behavior, and two new factors (trust and gratefulness) were identified as factors that influence intention behavior and use of the platform. Three propositions were developed to summarize the findings and guide future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers can exploit the consumer willingness to substitute to improve their profit, service level and waste. This paper investigates to what extent such improvement can be realised by the replenishment decisions. Two order policies are compared: one policy neglecting product substitution, and a new policy that decides on order quantities for all products simultaneously meanwhile anticipating stock-outbased substitution. Both policies are analysed by simulation-based optimisation. Besides finding the optimal parameter values or a variety of settings by exact enumeration (as a benchmark), we present for the case of one-way substitution a heuristic search procedure. The heuristic finds (nearly) optimal parameter values quickly and turns out to find optimal parameter values in almost all settings. An average profit increase of almost 9% is obtained when anticipating on substitution, while waste levels can decrease with more than 35%. A clear trade-off between service levels and profit/waste levels is found. Assuming the retailer aims at profit maximisation, the service level of one product maybe very low or even zero. The results provide the following managerial insights in: (i) the service levels and waste levels that maximize the retailer's profit, (ii) whether a product should be removed from the assortment, (iii) the profit loss and waste increase of setting a higher (sub optimal) service level, e.g. for strategic reasons. Reversely, one may learn from the results what the profit margin of a product should be to justify a certain service level to a profit maximizing retailer. These insights maybe useful to retailers whose primary objective is beyond profit maximisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the large amount of food waste coming from households, reducing household food waste is essential to the mitigation of overall food waste and the provision of multi-faceted benefits for both people and the planet. This study identifies factors and management strategies for the reduction of household food waste in the Taiwanese household setting. Using snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect data from 27 household food providers in Taipei. The research findings identify four critical motivators and four barriers to minimizing household food waste in Taiwan. The most frequently mentioned motivator for the reduction of food waste is a convenient shopping environment, and the most important barrier is lack of knowledge for assessing the edibility of food. Additionally, four major prevention strategies are identified to help reduce household food waste: (1) planned purchase schedule; (2) skills to keep food fresh and longer; (3) understanding family preferences and leftover management, and (4) sharing additional food and co-procurement and cooking. The results of this study not only help improve the understanding and application of Chinese household food waste reduction, but also demonstrate the significance of its socio-cultural impacts in future studies.

Food waste is a major contributor to climate change. Schools offer a unique opportunity to educate on this issue while also reducing food waste generation; however, few climate-change education curricula that include a food waste component have been developed and tested with fidelity. Thus, the purpose of this cluster randomized controlled study was to assess the effectiveness of a climate change and food waste education program called NJ Leaves No Bite Behind (NJLNBB) among fifth-grade students. Lessons on food waste and sustainable food behaviors were developed that aligned with NJ Student Learning Standards for Climate Change and Next-Generation Science Standards. Participants (n = 162) completed pre- and post-test surveys that assessed knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behaviors. Post-test, the experimental group (n = 102) had significantly ( p < 0.05) higher mean scores in knowledge, social norms, behavioral intentions, and perceived behavioral control compared to the control group (n = 60), with medium effect sizes, as determined by partial eta-squared. There were no significant between-group differences in mean score attitudes, self-efficacy, motivation to comply, or climate-friendly behaviors post-test. Almost three-quarters of participants who received the program agreed or strongly agreed the lessons were fun (75.5%), liked the card games (72.5), and learned a lot (78.4%). These findings are promising in terms of teaching adolescents the impacts of food waste on the climate.

The salmon bone, byproduct generated from fish processing operations, was a good calcium source and could be produced as a value-added product through pretreatment with sodium hydroxide and thermal processing. The pretreatment with 4-8% NaOH for 30-60 min could decrease lipid content of salmon bone to 4.26-8.41%. After pretreatment process, salmon bones were boiled by a gas retort and following dried by a hot air drying. Increasing drying temperature and time (140-180°C for 15-45 min) resulted in an increase in crispness of salmon bone product, whereas a decrease in values of hardness and moisture content. Drying at 180°C for 15 min contributed the physical and chemical properties of the salmon bone product including; 84 count peaks of crispness, 13.16 N of hardness, 2.96% moisture content, and 19.23 g calcium 100 g-1 sample. This result indicated that the sodium hydroxide pretreatment and thermal processes had the potential to promote salmon bone as a calcium-rich product with crispy texture like a snack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Supply-chain management is influenced by market demand and perishability of foods. • Monitoring technologies can reduce food loss in warehouse management. • The approach is based on a shelf life model and on the Monte Carlo simulation. • Economic Traceability Lot is determined through an economic feasibility analysis. • Shelf life based policies of perishable foods allow for the reduction of ecological impacts. Abstract In today's competitive global market it is mandatory to improve warehousing operations integrating economic, environmental and social aspects. The recent advancement in monitoring technologies can greatly improve the performance of the food supply chain reducing product loss. In particular, in the perishable food supply chain, initially inventory operations are critical because they manage the material flows in very variable conditions. The deterioration level of the products as well as the market demand are the main factors that can influence warehouse strategy. This research aims to consider the application of sustainability principles in the context of warehouse storage, evaluating the combined decision of implementing shelf life based picking policy and pricing strategy. In particular, the proposed approach is based on a referenced shelf life model and on the Monte Carlo simulation. Three different pricing scenarios in a case study for the management of the warehouse were defined and their Economic Traceability Lot was determined on the basis of an economic feasibility analysis. Finally, the carbon footprint for each scenario was determined in terms of emissions produced by temperature-controlled transportations and for the landfilling of product wasted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a marketing campaign guide to support nonprofit and governmental organizations, such as academic research institutes or governmental agencies, that wish to develop support tools for the food industry. It offers a systematic and target audience-centered approach which guides nonprofits through the various steps of a marketing campaign, from defining the required values of a new product or service to ultimately launching it. The text also explains how a target audience-centered marketing approach was applied in a case study of developing and transferring the LAV platform (LAV--Avoiding FoodWaste, from the German "Lebensmittel Abfall Vermeiden"), a website that has been specifically set up and targeted to small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the German food sector that wish to reduce food waste in their operations. Currently, there are more than 500 tools available in the English or German language which attempt to support companies in the food sector in their food waste reduction efforts. However, so far there has been no platform that could gather all these tools to facilitate SMEs' access to them. The LAV platform compiles various relevant tools from academia as well as from industry and makes the most suitable tools available in a toolbox published on the Internet platform. Here, the tools are structured by topic and market segment; its user-friendliness was tested applying participatory methods which involved SMEs and industry organizations. The LAV platform, as well as target audience-centered marketing approaches more generally, could act as role models for other international projects that also have the goal of setting up and promoting tool-gathering systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]