Impacto financeiro do desperdício de alimentos em uma unidade produtora de refeições

• Main Authors: Lúcia Helena Almeida Gratão, Clemilson Antonio da Silva, Sandra Maria Rosa de Aguiar, Tatiana Evangelista da Silva Rocha, Jhessika Ferreira Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Tocantins 2016-11-01
• Series: Desafios
• Subjects: Food Waste; Collective Feeding; Management in food service; Food and nutrition unit; Cost control
• Online Access: https://sistemas.uft.edu.br/periodicos/index.php/desafios/article/view/2778/9276

The survival of new Meal Production Units (MPU) depends on their knowledge of the market requirements, the quality of the final product, services offered and competitive prices. The waste of food in the production stages can result in an increase of the final product cost and a decrease in the company’s profitability. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the financial impact caused by the waste of food in a UPR and highlight measures that can contribute to minimize these losses. For this, we performed a weighing of the unusable leftovers for a period of seven days, after the end of the distribution schedule. In this same period the number of meals served was also obtained. From the values found, it was estimated the monthly and annual financial projection of the waste. In the studied UPR, a median of 27.25 kg of food was found, still in consumption conditions, discarded, which generates a waste of financial resources around R $ 1,852.20 (One thousand, eight hundred and fifty-two Reais and twenty Cents) per day. Simple measures such as planning, organization, supervision and employee awareness can contribute significantly to reduce this waste and reduce the financial damage generated and also favor a safe and tasty food for the diners.