Katja Behrens
We all hear about the “freshmen 15” entering our first years of college. The endless options of food in buffets, countless stations to choose from, and the dessert stand that is always full Is unlike any of our home lifestyles prior to this where there is typically just one meal to choose from. As students pile all kinds of food onto their plates simply because they have access to it, many of them really don’t think about what they will truly eat out of those portions. The opposite issue to weight gain that we don’t often hear about is that this results in the disposal of perfectly edible food by many students, adding up to an average of 141 pounds of uneaten food thrown away by each student every year. College campuses put in little effort to try to minimize the amount of food waste that they produce each year when there are many people globally going hungry because of a lack of access to edible food, when even the littlest changes to their dining procedures could help. Including daily reports of expected food intake by each student, educating students (and staff) on proper portion sizes, and even implementing ways to utilize food that remains edible after a meal to shape other meals would help reduce food waste in tremendous ways.
Current Methods of Dining Hall Meal Services
At Colorado State University as a freshman this year, I have experienced this food waste far too often. It almost feels unavoidable, especially with the current “no contact” dining hall services due to the COVID-19 outbreak this year. Don’t get me wrong, CSU has done a wonderful job in a hard situation, but there are still many areas that could be improved to limit food waste and sustainability.
In order to get a meal currently you must place a reservation before attending the dining hall, and on that reservation, check which meal you want to pick up when you arrive. This seems like a great idea, right? And a great way to limit excess food production. Well at least it would be if the dining hall actually followed through with the idea behind this meal preparation. Although these basic guidelines are put in place based off what students order for their meal, the dining halls take no further steps to make sure the majority of students are actually getting what they ordered ahead. You could order one meal, walk into the dining hall, change your mind, and pick up a completely different meal. And yes, food freedom is important, and students play a role in limiting the overproduction of pre-prepared foods in dining halls, but even in normal years (without COVID precautions) where reservations aren’t made, the staff has no clue how much they are going to need of each food at each meal rush, and therefore are mindlessly preparing vast amounts of each meal.
At a study done at Harper University, just one night produced around 70 pounds of wasted food. 70 pounds that could be going to the one in eight Americans that struggle daily to put food on the table for themselves and their family. Finding a more reliable way to have students report what they want to pick up ahead of time and maybe even setting limits on how much food must be served before more can be produced would be a great start to limiting overproduction and majorly decreasing the amount of food wasted by university dining halls every day.
Individual Activity Level vs. Necessary Caloric Intake
Going further into the service part of the dining experience in colleges yields even more participating factors in the cycle of food waste. The process of putting together a meal in a dining hall is majorly (and in 2020 is entirely) done by a staff member behind the counter. In my experience so far, it doesn’t seem that any of these staff are educated on what portion sizes they should be distributing, and they haven’t been told to ask the student that they are serving the simple question of “is this enough?”.
Everyone has different bodies, activity levels, and dietary needs, but the dining halls simply don’t account for this and tend to give everyone the same portions of food at each meal. When comparing the number of food/calories that myself, a 5’4” female poms dancer, is going to require compared to a 6’4” division one men’s basketball player… they are nowhere near the same amount. In fact, they are about 2,000 (most likely more) calories apart, but for some reason I am receiving the same portions for one meal as they are. And as much as I don’t want to have to throw out the left-over portions of my food that I physically can’t eat anymore, I don’t have much of a choice because the amounts are far too large for me and for what I need.
The Battle of Accurate Portion Sizes and Food Waste
I have also noticed that the simple lack of education on nutrition or portion size of staff members tends to result in the largest amount of food on each plate being that of the highest calories, or least nutritional value. Plenty of times I have gone to (for example) get a chicken, rice, and veggie bowl and the staff member helping me will place multiple large scoops of rice on my plate, which is a very calorie dense food although it does have its benefits, and only one tiny scoop of veggies which provide tons of vitamins and nutritional value at a lower calorie value. And this happens with most other meals as well, making it harder for students to stay away from these high calorie/low nutrient foods and limit access to the beneficial low calorie/high nutrient foods, often playing a role in the previously stated “freshman 15” or 5% body fat gain that one in four freshmen tend to experience early on in their college experience.
Simply adding in different meal sizes such as medium or large, educating the working staff on proper portion sizes and nutritional values, or even asking the student about the amounts of food being put on their plate would help to reduce food waste in major ways by decreasing the amount of food a student throws out because they simply “can’t eat that much” or know they “don’t need that much”.
Alternatives to Wasting for Universities and Individuals
So far, these simple tips and recommendations have been very individually based and on a smaller scale that will add up to make a difference in the long run, but something that could majorly change the amount of food wasted by dining halls each year if done correctly could be finding ways to “reuse” food that is still edible instead of just throwing it out. In 2016, a nationwide organization known as The Food Recovery Network that is led by students worked to turn “388,840 pounds of campus-produced food waste into more than 300,000 meals for those in need,”. If dining halls implemented regular tasks that supported
Not only do these actions benefit the large, unspoken food waste problem in our universities and nation, but they also establish a much more sustainable way for food to be provided and utilized in our everyday lives. Being aware about this issue and even working to eliminate food waste for yourself can add up to saving mass amounts of food overtime, and when done in a more elaborate effort as in by a university, it will not only limit overproduction and food waste, but will also save so much money and result in a much more sustainable cycle of food production and consumption.
About the Author
I am currently a first-year student attending Colorado State University and am studying Health and Exercise Sciences with a concentration in Sports Medicine. I am originally from Golden, Colorado and have recently become very interested in health, nutrition, and fitness and the impacts that they can have on our lives. I have an irreplaceable love for food and dance and in my future hope to get to use that interest to help others fuel and heal their bodies in the best way possible as a sports medicine physician.
Bibliography
Food Recovery Network, 2017, www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/.
“Food Waste and Sustainability on Campus.” Foodservice Consultants – Campus Dining, 25 Apr. 2017, campusdining.net/food-waste-sustainability-campus.
Jansen, Jacob. “Loras College to Host Discussion on Reduction of Food Waste Feb. 27.” Loras College, 13 Nov. 2018, www.loras.edu/news/loras-college-host-food-waste-reduction-discussion/.
“No One Can Thrive on an Empty Stomach.” Feeding America, 2020, www.feedingamerica.org/.
Schuna, Carly. “Caloric Needs for Athletes.” Healthy Eating | SF Gate, 6 Dec. 2018, https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/caloric-needs-athletes-7179.html.
Warner, Jennifer. “Freshman 15: College Weight Gain Is Real.” WebMD, WebMD, 28 July 2009, www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090728/freshman-15-college-weight-gain-is-real.
Zappala, Macrae. “How Are University’s Handling Dining Hall Food Waste-UNL Study.” DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska – Lincoln, May 2019, digitalcommons.unl.edu/envstudtheses/217/.
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