Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste

The concepts of culinary sustainability and avoiding the waste of surplus food have become important sustainability trends today. How the handling of surplus food can be integrated into the catering industry is a topic of concern in the industry. Kitchen staff are the vital soul of any restaurant, a...

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Main Authors: Min-Yen Lu, Wen-Hwa Ko
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-08-01
Series:Foods
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/16/3028
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author Min-Yen Lu
Wen-Hwa Ko
author_facet Min-Yen Lu
Wen-Hwa Ko
author_sort Min-Yen Lu
collection DOAJ
description The concepts of culinary sustainability and avoiding the waste of surplus food have become important sustainability trends today. How the handling of surplus food can be integrated into the catering industry is a topic of concern in the industry. Kitchen staff are the vital soul of any restaurant, and we intend to discuss how kitchen staff actually behave and explore factors that influence their behaviors in order to develop an implementation model for food waste prevention. Therefore, this study explored a model of ethical sustainability, professional competence, self-efficacy, sustainable food preparation objectives, and sustainable food promotion and behavior focused on limiting food waste, using structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand the relationship between various constructs. This study used a questionnaire and surveyed employees who had been employed for more than 6 months in Taiwan. From May to August 2022, 500 questionnaires were distributed; 415 valid questionnaires were retrieved, yielding a 90.2% recovery rate. According to the structural equation modeling analysis between the dimensions, ethical sustainability should have a positive influence on professional competence in food waste prevention and self-efficacy. Professional competence in food waste prevention affected self-efficacy and behavioral intentions during food preparation; self-efficacy also significantly affected behavioral intentions towards sustainable food preparation. Similarly, behavioral intention had a positive influence on promoting sustainable behaviors. There is a significant relationship between all constructs in this study. Professional competence in food waste prevention was found to be the mediating factor between ethical sustainability and behavioral intentions toward sustainable food preparation, and self-efficacy was the mediating factor between professional competence in food waste prevention and behavioral intentions toward sustainable food preparation.
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spelling doaj.art-a44319b8df974dbda7f183e054421b932023-11-19T01:05:41ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582023-08-011216302810.3390/foods12163028Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food WasteMin-Yen Lu0Wen-Hwa Ko1 Program in Nutrition and Food Science, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242062, Taiwan Department of Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242062, TaiwanThe concepts of culinary sustainability and avoiding the waste of surplus food have become important sustainability trends today. How the handling of surplus food can be integrated into the catering industry is a topic of concern in the industry. Kitchen staff are the vital soul of any restaurant, and we intend to discuss how kitchen staff actually behave and explore factors that influence their behaviors in order to develop an implementation model for food waste prevention. Therefore, this study explored a model of ethical sustainability, professional competence, self-efficacy, sustainable food preparation objectives, and sustainable food promotion and behavior focused on limiting food waste, using structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand the relationship between various constructs. This study used a questionnaire and surveyed employees who had been employed for more than 6 months in Taiwan. From May to August 2022, 500 questionnaires were distributed; 415 valid questionnaires were retrieved, yielding a 90.2% recovery rate. According to the structural equation modeling analysis between the dimensions, ethical sustainability should have a positive influence on professional competence in food waste prevention and self-efficacy. Professional competence in food waste prevention affected self-efficacy and behavioral intentions during food preparation; self-efficacy also significantly affected behavioral intentions towards sustainable food preparation. Similarly, behavioral intention had a positive influence on promoting sustainable behaviors. There is a significant relationship between all constructs in this study. Professional competence in food waste prevention was found to be the mediating factor between ethical sustainability and behavioral intentions toward sustainable food preparation, and self-efficacy was the mediating factor between professional competence in food waste prevention and behavioral intentions toward sustainable food preparation.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/16/3028surplus foodsustainable preparation behaviorfood wastekitchen staffethical sustainabilityself-efficacy
spellingShingle Min-Yen Lu
Wen-Hwa Ko
Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste
Foods
surplus food
sustainable preparation behavior
food waste
kitchen staff
ethical sustainability
self-efficacy
title Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste
title_full Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste
title_fullStr Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste
title_short Sustainable Preparation Behavior for Kitchen Staff in Order to Limit Food Waste
title_sort sustainable preparation behavior for kitchen staff in order to limit food waste
topic surplus food
sustainable preparation behavior
food waste
kitchen staff
ethical sustainability
self-efficacy
url https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/16/3028
work_keys_str_mv AT minyenlu sustainablepreparationbehaviorforkitchenstaffinordertolimitfoodwaste
AT wenhwako sustainablepreparationbehaviorforkitchenstaffinordertolimitfoodwaste