About one-third of the world's food production is lost or wasted annually at different stages of food supply chains (FSCs). Food loss usually occurs in the early stages of FSCs, while waste is more prevalent in their final stages. Thus, the main objectives of the present study were to investigate the causes of loss and waste, as well as strategies that can minimize them. Decreasing food waste in collective catering organizations, including university restaurants, is situated in the context of these concerns. In order to contribute to this discussion, the authors investigated the causes of wastage in university restaurants and possible interventions recommended in the literature to reduce it. A search considering the “food waste” and “university restaurant” constructs in five different databases found 352 publications related to the theme, of which 21 supported to answer the two questions that guided this search: Q1: “What are the causes that contribute to food waste in university restaurants?” and Q2: “What are the interventions that can be or are used in university restaurants to reduce food waste?” The literature search identified 13 causes (portion size; quality; price; emotion; palatability; preparation/cooking; menu; time; satiety; storage; service; overbuying; security) and 14 possible interventions (campaigns; trayless systems; waste management; portion size; quality; changing menus; planning; preordering; charity/donations; nutritional information; coercion; changing the dishes; preparation/cooking; storage). From this perspective, the present article provides a holistic view of food waste in university restaurants, in order to guide mitigation interventions and future research on this theme.

An emerging trend among consumers is the pursuit of healthier eating habits while minimizing environmental damage, thus increasing the intention for consumption of organic foods. In this context, this study hypothesizes that household food waste is influenced by organic food purchase intention, which, in turn, is influenced by environmental concern, health consciousness, hedonic shopping, and negatively affected by price. Hence, the objective of this study is to propose and empirically test a theoretical framework with Brazilian consumers. Data from 240 respondents were electronically collected and analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results suggest that environmental concern, price consciousness, and health consciousness significantly influence organic food purchase intention, while hedonic shopping value does not. Furthermore, although organic food purchase intention reduced household food waste, the effect size of this relationship was found to be extremely low, suggesting it to be a poor predictor. This paper contributes to the existing literature on consumer behavior and waste management further by not only examining the relationship between two research streams but also by shedding light on unique aspects of an emerging country.

RESUMO O estudo das causas do desperdício alimentar e das potenciais intervenções para a sua minimização está entre as preocupações centrais daqueles que trabalham com alimentos. A alimentação na educação, que inclui os refeitórios das universidades, está entre os setores que merecem atenção, uma vez que quantidades significativas de alimentos são desperdiçadas pelos consumidores. Entretanto, ainda há uma escassez de estudos que abordem o problema. Este estudo teve como objetivo geral investigar o desperdício de alimentos em um refeitório de uma universidade brasileira, bem como a percepção dos consumidores em relação às refeições servidas. Por meio de um questionário, foi possível investigar quais as principais percepções dos consumidores, e o que poderia estar por trás da geração do desperdício. Utilizou-se a correlação de Spearman a fim de verificar a correlação entre o desperdício alimentar e a percepção dos consumidores sobre as razões por trás da geração do desperdício. Verificou-se um desperdício médio de 68 g/consumidor. Além disso, foi observado que os consumidores que colocavam os alimentos em bandejas desperdiçavam mais alimentos do que aqueles que optavam por comer em pratos. As informações coletadas foram utilizadas para propor potenciais intervenções voltadas à redução do desperdício de alimentos em refeitórios universitários.