Sustainability 2017, 9(1), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9010066
A Participatory Approach to Minimizing Food Waste in the Food Industry—A Manual for Managers
Christina Strotmann 1,*
, Christine Göbel 1, Silke Friedrich 1, Judith Kreyenschmidt 2, Guido Ritter 1 and Petra Teitscheid 1
, Christine Göbel 1, Silke Friedrich 1, Judith Kreyenschmidt 2, Guido Ritter 1 and Petra Teitscheid 1
1
Institute of Sustainable Nutrition (iSuN), Münster University of Applied Sciences, Corrensstr. 25, 48149 Münster, Germany
2
Institute of Nutritional and Food Sciences, Cold Chain Management Working Group, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 7-9, 53115 Bonn, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Riccardo Accorsi and Riccardo Manzini
Received: 10 November 2016 / Revised: 9 December 2016 / Accepted: 30 December 2016 / Published: 5 January 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Food Supply Chain and Food Industry)
Abstract
Based on their experiences gained in 15 companies in the catering sector and the bakery industry, the authors present a participatory concept to reduce food waste in the food industry. This five-phase concept, adapted to the PDCA (Plan–Do–Check–Act) cycle applied in the Total Quality Management, involves a participatory approach where employees are integrated into the process of developing and implementing measures to counteract food waste. The authors describe how the participatory approach can be used to raise awareness of the topic of food waste to improve employee commitment and responsibility. As a result, the authors further offer a Manual for Managers wishing to reduce food waste in their respective organizations. This manual includes information on the methodologies applied in each step of the improvement cycle. It also describes why the steps are necessary, and how results can be documented. The participatory concept and the Manual for Managers contribute to reducing food waste and to enhancing resource efficiency in the food industry. View Full-TextKeywords:
food waste; change management; resource efficiency; sustainability; food value chain; PDCA cycle
▼
Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Strotmann, C.; Göbel, C.; Friedrich, S.; Kreyenschmidt, J.; Ritter, G.; Teitscheid, P. A Participatory Approach to Minimizing Food Waste in the Food Industry—A Manual for Managers. Sustainability 2017, 9, 66.
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Related Articles
Article Metrics
Comments
[Return to top]
Sustainability
EISSN 2071-1050
Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
RSS
E-Mail Table of Contents Alert