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Identify types of food packaging used in school nutrition programs and competing priorities, barriers, and facilitators for sustainable packaging waste use and recovery. Qualitative interviews (n = 20) and structured kitchen observations were conducted. Data were collected from 3 school districts in Northern Colorado. Three nutrition program directors, 14 kitchen managers, and 3 sustainability staff. Barriers and facilitators for sustainable food packaging waste practices among school nutrition programs. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, followed by inductive content analysis to identify themes. Commonly used food packaging included cardboard, aluminum, paper, plastic, and styrofoam. Four competing priorities were identified as impacting school nutrition programs' ability to reduce or recover food packaging: serving line speed, labor, food quality, and cost. One key barrier was that school staff had difficulty understanding the total system impact of their food packaging use and recovery decisions. Food packaging is commonly used in school nutrition programs, and participants felt that its use offered key benefits, such as facilitating faster serving lines. More research is needed to quantify the direct and indirect impacts of packaging waste reduction and recovery in school nutrition programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste is a global problem. School food waste before the point of purchase, pre-consumer waste, has been little studied. Our aim was to elicit a comprehensive assessment and understanding of pre-consumer food waste amounts, behaviors, policies, and attitudes. This study used mixed methods, featuring a convergent parallel design using key respondent interviews (n=20) and 80 hours of structured kitchen observations, including food waste measurement. School and district kitchens (n=14) using stratified random sampling to ensure school level and kitchen type reflected the population of three Colorado school districts in 2016-2017. Kitchen managers, district-level nutrition services directors, and sustainability staff were interviewed. Mean food waste volumes and percentages were calculated. Linear regressions were used to determine the relationship between school kitchen characteristics and food waste volumes. Interviews were coded to identify common themes. Trim waste and overproduction contributed the most to overall pre-consumer food waste; substandard foods and overproduction were the most common reasons for edible waste. Several competing priorities conflicted with schools' and districts' waste reduction efforts: food safety, promoting diet quality, food choice, and customer satisfaction. Batch cooking, production record use, shallow salad bar pans, and other inventory management techniques facilitated waste reduction. Staffing, space, and time constraints made it more difficult to implement these strategies. Increased food choice options were positively associated with pre-consumer waste volume (β=49.5, P =0.04), and this relationship remained significant once regression models adjusted for district, salad bar use, and new menu items (β=70.3, P =0.05). School nutrition programs are complex, and a systems approach is warranted to reduce overall waste in the context of existing food safety and nutrition policies. More research is needed to elucidate the impact of food choice on overall food waste of the school meal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]