SUSTAINABLE FOOD WASTE REDUCTION PRACTICES IN TRAINING KITCHENS

Food waste is a major environmental, economic, and educational challenge within hospitality and culinary education. Training kitchens generate food waste during purchasing, storage, preparation, cooking, service, and the handling of surplus food. Because students develop their professional culinary habits in these environments, training kitchens provide an important opportunity to teach practical food-waste prevention and sustainable resource management. The present study examines sustainable food waste reduction practices in training kitchens, with particular attention to food planning, accurate portioning, proper storage, ingredient utilization, menu planning, reuse of safe surplus food, waste segregation, composting, and student awareness. Recent research indicates that professional training, sustainability education, practical supervision, and measurement of food waste can contribute to improved waste-management behavior among hospitality and culinary students. The study proposes that food-waste reduction should not be treated as an additional topic but integrated into everyday kitchen training and assessment. By developing students' knowledge, skills, attitudes, and professional responsibility, training kitchens can contribute to more sustainable culinary practices and support Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which calls for reducing food waste. UNEP reported that approximately 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted at household, food-service, and retail levels in 2022, demonstrating the scale of the global challenge.