Dieticians' Perception of Current Status of No-plate-waste Day in School Lunch

ABSTRACT

Reducing plate-waste for school lunches is an important strategy to guarantee adequate nutrition intakes by students as well as to protect the environment. This study was conducted to determine dieticians' perception of no-plate-waste day. The subjects were dieticians at 203 schools in Seoul and Kyeonggi-do. Among them, 132 schools (78.6%) operated no-plate-waste day once a week, 6.9% once a month, 10.8% twice a week, whereas 17.2% did not operate at all. According to dieticians, plate-waste per student on no-plate-waste day (mean 49.1 g) was lower than that on an ordinary day (mean 79.2 g). The most popular method to advertise no-plate-waste day was to notify it on the menu board (52.4%), followed by notifying it on the dining hall and the school website. The most frequently used reward on no-plate-waste day was a gift snack (67.3%), followed by complimentary stickers, awards, and GPA. The most common side effect of no-plate-waste day was students' abandoning foods (45.2%), followed by rejecting food and simplified menu. The most frequent barrier was insufficient recognition of necessity (39.3%), followed by shortage of manpower or budget and students and teachers' resistance. The dieticians at 35 schools without no-plate-waste day answered that they did not operate it due to 'no need perceived' and 'no budget' (31.4% and 31.4%, respectively). Based on this study, government and society should promote the need to reduce plate-waste by students and teachers as well as school administrators.