INTRODUCTION:

Food waste culminates in ethical, economical, environmental and nutritional implications, having more emphasis at school level. A collective feeding unit should guarantee the supply of secure and nutritional appropriated meals. However, the benefits of its ingestion may not always be guaranteed and if it is verified a high food waste.

OBJECTIVES:

Quantification of the food waste resulting from a lunch in four collective restauration units, i.e. one middle school and one high school. Also, the efficiency of the awareness campaign to the reduction of food waste was assessed.

METHODOLOGY:

The present study is divided into three phases. The first phase was developed to quantify the food waste in schools. The second phase carried out an awareness campaign in two of the four schools inspected. The food waste was also quantified in the third phase. For the quantification of the leftovers and remain food, the physical method of weighing was considered. Through the delivery and analysis of a questionnaire, it was intended to list the predictor´s that promote waste in two schools.

RESULTS:

A total wastage of 35.1% and 21.9% corresponding, respectively, to the first and second quantification was verified in the whole meal (dish and soup). The sensitization campaign contributed significantly for the reduction of the food waste. The comparison between the schools subjected to intervention campaigns regarding the food waste showed a significant decrease of the food waste, when compared to the initial phase between the first and second quantifications. Regarding the protein component there was a rest index of 18.1% for fish and 11.8% for meat, without statistical significance. The main predictor´s of food waste found were: noise during school lunch, many people in lunch time, and menu served.

CONCLUSIONS:

The conducted study increased the scientific spirit, showing the need of considering other food waste predictors which may influence this problem.

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