Main findings from questionnaires, interviews and surveys
| References | Design/methodology/approach | Area of interest | Sample features | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katajajuuri et al. (2014) | See Table 2 | See Table 2 | See Table 2 | See Table 2 |
| Willersinn et al. (2015) | From harvesting to distribution, approximately one week before the interview took place, a standardized 8-page questionnaire was sent by email to people in-charge of preparing meals, to complete it according to quality standards, to the extent of potato losses, to their collaboration with supply chain partners, and with ecological and economic data | Potato supply chain in Switzerland | 3 wholesalers (fresh potatoes), 2 wholesalers (processing potatoes), 4 processing industry, 5 retailers, 704 households | From the total initial fresh potato production, 15–24% gets lost during agricultural production, a further 12–24% at wholesalers, 1–3% at retailers, and 15% at private households. In comparison, 5–11% of the initial production gets lost at wholesalers, a further 14–15% during processing, 0% at retailers, and 2% at private households |
| Pirani and Arafat (2016) | Face-to-face interviews between the authors and representatives of hotels/organizations (head of engineering, environmental manager, food safety and hygiene manager) | Hospitality sector, taking United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi as examples | 45 hotels/restaurants | Not available data by interviews |
| Amato and Musella (2017) | Interviews listed from October to December 2016. Interviews schedule was anticipated by telephone calls and letters describing the research content | Restaurant business in historic center of Naples (Italy) | 89 completed questionnaires | Total waste per year: 7,446 quintals (bar waste: 3,232 quintals; restaurant waste: 4,214 quintals) |
| Chakona and Shackleton (2017) | Face-to-face interview of an average of 1 h and 45 min | Household data collected between October and November 2014 in Richards Bay, in Dundee and in Karrismith (South Africa) | 554 households | Overall mean quantity of food waste for 48 h: 121 g of prepared food, 268.6 g of unprepared food and 77 mL of drinks per household |
| Tostivint et al. (2017) | Literature review as well as preparatory phone interviews listed to collect data. Important data were collected by: Nestlé, farms, VMCs and CCs, distributors and retailers. In addition, interviews with experts of the Pakistani dairy sector, and a focus group with consumers were organized. Face-to-face interviews conducted with three experts which were sent questionnaires | Primary production, processing and distribution in dairy supply chain in Pakistan | 18 farms, 8 distributors and retailers, 3 experts | Milk waste in strict sense represents around 7,000 t per year |
| Wang et al. (2017) | Two questionnaires were used to investigate the amount and composition of food waste and consumer food waste behaviors. The first part is a weight table which includes the quantity of food offered and wasted in the plate | Restaurants in four cities (Beijing, Shangai, Chendu, Lhasa) | 195 restaurants with 3,557 tables. For each restaurant, 20 tables of consumers were randomly selected | The average amount of food waste per capita per meal in the four cities is calculated as 93 g in 2015 |
| Giordano et al. (2018) | See Table 2 | See Table 2 | See Table 2 | See Table 2 |
| Hartikainen et al. (2018) | Interviews supported final results of previously collected 21 questionnaires | Primary production in Nordic countries | 2,500 responses (including some producers representing several farmers) | Food waste estimated in 800,000 t per year plus 100,000 t from rearing phase of animals. Changing boundaries, food waste amount is 330,000 t per year |
| Szabò-Bòdi et al. (2018) | Consumer survey required the following equipment: general EC standard kitchen scale (accuracy in grams), measuring jug (600 mL) and datasheet. These items were provided by the research team to the households to ensure consistency in the measurement process | Household in Hungary, one week from August to November of 2016 | 100 households (295 people) | Estimated quantity of total food waste (including liquid waste) per capita is 68.04 kg per year. Avoidable food waste is equal to 33.14 kg per capita per year |
| Baker et al. (2019) | In-depth interviews to understand how production, yields and loss vary throughout the growing season. At least two interviews per crop have been conducted and continued interviewing growers until the development of comprehensive understanding of the pattern and amount of these losses | Primary production in northern and central California, summer and fall 2018 | 20 crops in 123 fields | On average: 11,185 kg per hectare of edible produce left in field after harvest |
| Djekic et al. (2019) | All interviews were performed face-to-face with a brief guide over the research aim | Household survey performed during the first half of 2018 in Sarajevo and Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 801 citizens | Households disposed around 2.78 kg of food per week, or 0.95 kg per capita, which means 145 kg annually of food waste |
| Elimelech et al. (2019) | Hybrid approach: physical waste survey and food expenditure survey, as well as self-assessment in the form of a questionnaire-based survey (self-assessment of food waste amount, self-assessment of food waste proportion and self-assessment of monetary losses) | Households investigated on three neighborhoods of the Haifa Municipality, Israel | 187 households | Avoidable food waste amounted to 3.069 kg per household per week (0.927 kg per capita per week). Monetary losses were on average 42.07 euros per household per month |
| Giordano et al. (2019b) | Diary stage (see Table 2) and questionnaire stage. Questionnaire sent to respondents two weeks after the end of the diary survey, for an amount of 23 questions including estimate of food waste | Households. National survey conducted in May–June 2017 in Italy | 388 families | Overall per person food waste average is 530 g |
| Pflugh Prescott et al. (2019) | This study follows mixed methods, using key respondent interviews and 80 h of structured kitchen observations (see also Table 3) | School and district kitchens using stratified random sampling in Colorado school districts in 2016–2017 | 14 schools and district kitchens | Pre-consume average rates: 43.8 g per student, of which 32.5 g of edible waste |
| van Herpen et al. (2019) | Four different survey measurements of general food waste were included in the initial online survey:
| Households from a consumer panel of Wageningen Food and Biobased Research (Netherlands) | 143 members | The average amount of food waste in grams per week per household ranged between 614 and 1,220 g |
| Wesana et al. (2019) | Observations made along the dairy value chain and interviews conducted with key personnel operating within the chain | Three levels of the value chain: farm, processing and distribution, in August 2017 in Western Uganda | One vertically integrated dairy chain | Losses at the end of dairy chain: 1,409 kg (milk), 337.4 kg (plain yogurt) and 159.2 kg (mango yogurt) |
| Eriksson et al. (2020) | Online survey. One contact person in each of Sweden's 21 regions was sent the questionnaire by e-mail | Hospital food waste quantification routines in Sweden | 20 hospitals in three regions out of 102 hospitals (and hospital units) | Average level of food waste in the hospitals was 111 g per guest per meal, with lowest value of 27 g and highest of 184 g per guest per meal. Globally, waste level varied between 1.9 and 239 kg per day per hospital |
| van Dooren et al. (2020) | The questionnaires were supposed to be comparable one with another. Additional online Facebook questionnaire and professional clients to evaluate measuring cup reliability | Households in Netherlands | Client panel of supermarket: 666 individuals. Online Facebook questionnaire: 445 responses. Professional clients: 150 individuals | The Eetmaatje provides a theoretical reduction of food waste of 6% for pasta and 21% for rice, or 12.5% combined |
| Kasza et al. (2020) | Questionnaire in which households were supported by kitchen scales, measuring glasses and a manual | Households in Hungary | 165 households | Globally, 532.76 kg of food waste generated, of which 475 kg solid and 57.75 kg liquid. Total per capita food waste was 65.49 kg per year |
| References | Design/methodology/approach | Area of interest | Sample features | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| See | See | See | See | |
| From harvesting to distribution, approximately one week before the interview took place, a standardized 8-page questionnaire was sent by email to people in-charge of preparing meals, to complete it according to quality standards, to the extent of potato losses, to their collaboration with supply chain partners, and with ecological and economic data | Potato supply chain in Switzerland | 3 wholesalers (fresh potatoes), 2 wholesalers (processing potatoes), 4 processing industry, 5 retailers, 704 households | From the total initial fresh potato production, 15–24% gets lost during agricultural production, a further 12–24% at wholesalers, 1–3% at retailers, and 15% at private households. In comparison, 5–11% of the initial production gets lost at wholesalers, a further 14–15% during processing, 0% at retailers, and 2% at private households | |
| Face-to-face interviews between the authors and representatives of hotels/organizations (head of engineering, environmental manager, food safety and hygiene manager) | Hospitality sector, taking United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi as examples | 45 hotels/restaurants | Not available data by interviews | |
| Interviews listed from October to December 2016. Interviews schedule was anticipated by telephone calls and letters describing the research content | Restaurant business in historic center of Naples (Italy) | 89 completed questionnaires | Total waste per year: 7,446 quintals (bar waste: 3,232 quintals; restaurant waste: 4,214 quintals) | |
| Face-to-face interview of an average of 1 h and 45 min | Household data collected between October and November 2014 in Richards Bay, in Dundee and in Karrismith (South Africa) | 554 households | Overall mean quantity of food waste for 48 h: 121 g of prepared food, 268.6 g of unprepared food and 77 mL of drinks per household | |
| Literature review as well as preparatory phone interviews listed to collect data. Important data were collected by: Nestlé, farms, VMCs and CCs, distributors and retailers. In addition, interviews with experts of the Pakistani dairy sector, and a focus group with consumers were organized. Face-to-face interviews conducted with three experts which were sent questionnaires | Primary production, processing and distribution in dairy supply chain in Pakistan | 18 farms, 8 distributors and retailers, 3 experts | Milk waste in strict sense represents around 7,000 t per year | |
| Two questionnaires were used to investigate the amount and composition of food waste and consumer food waste behaviors. The first part is a weight table which includes the quantity of food offered and wasted in the plate | Restaurants in four cities (Beijing, Shangai, Chendu, Lhasa) | 195 restaurants with 3,557 tables. For each restaurant, 20 tables of consumers were randomly selected | The average amount of food waste per capita per meal in the four cities is calculated as 93 g in 2015 | |
| See | See | See | See | |
| Interviews supported final results of previously collected 21 questionnaires | Primary production in Nordic countries | 2,500 responses (including some producers representing several farmers) | Food waste estimated in 800,000 t per year plus 100,000 t from rearing phase of animals. Changing boundaries, food waste amount is 330,000 t per year | |
| Consumer survey required the following equipment: general EC standard kitchen scale (accuracy in grams), measuring jug (600 mL) and datasheet. These items were provided by the research team to the households to ensure consistency in the measurement process | Household in Hungary, one week from August to November of 2016 | 100 households (295 people) | Estimated quantity of total food waste (including liquid waste) per capita is 68.04 kg per year. Avoidable food waste is equal to 33.14 kg per capita per year | |
| In-depth interviews to understand how production, yields and loss vary throughout the growing season. At least two interviews per crop have been conducted and continued interviewing growers until the development of comprehensive understanding of the pattern and amount of these losses | Primary production in northern and central California, summer and fall 2018 | 20 crops in 123 fields | On average: 11,185 kg per hectare of edible produce left in field after harvest | |
| All interviews were performed face-to-face with a brief guide over the research aim | Household survey performed during the first half of 2018 in Sarajevo and Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 801 citizens | Households disposed around 2.78 kg of food per week, or 0.95 kg per capita, which means 145 kg annually of food waste | |
| Hybrid approach: physical waste survey and food expenditure survey, as well as self-assessment in the form of a questionnaire-based survey (self-assessment of food waste amount, self-assessment of food waste proportion and self-assessment of monetary losses) | Households investigated on three neighborhoods of the Haifa Municipality, Israel | 187 households | Avoidable food waste amounted to 3.069 kg per household per week (0.927 kg per capita per week). Monetary losses were on average 42.07 euros per household per month | |
| Diary stage (see | Households. National survey conducted in May–June 2017 in Italy | 388 families | Overall per person food waste average is 530 g | |
| This study follows mixed methods, using key respondent interviews and 80 h of structured kitchen observations (see also | School and district kitchens using stratified random sampling in Colorado school districts in 2016–2017 | 14 schools and district kitchens | Pre-consume average rates: 43.8 g per student, of which 32.5 g of edible waste | |
| Four different survey measurements of general food waste were included in the initial online survey: general waste assessment frequency of wasting food in general waste assessment per category food waste in past week | Households from a consumer panel of Wageningen Food and Biobased Research (Netherlands) | 143 members | The average amount of food waste in grams per week per household ranged between 614 and 1,220 g | |
| Observations made along the dairy value chain and interviews conducted with key personnel operating within the chain | Three levels of the value chain: farm, processing and distribution, in August 2017 in Western Uganda | One vertically integrated dairy chain | Losses at the end of dairy chain: 1,409 kg (milk), 337.4 kg (plain yogurt) and 159.2 kg (mango yogurt) | |
| Online survey. One contact person in each of Sweden's 21 regions was sent the questionnaire by e-mail | Hospital food waste quantification routines in Sweden | 20 hospitals in three regions out of 102 hospitals (and hospital units) | Average level of food waste in the hospitals was 111 g per guest per meal, with lowest value of 27 g and highest of 184 g per guest per meal. Globally, waste level varied between 1.9 and 239 kg per day per hospital | |
| The questionnaires were supposed to be comparable one with another. Additional online Facebook questionnaire and professional clients to evaluate measuring cup reliability | Households in Netherlands | Client panel of supermarket: 666 individuals. Online Facebook questionnaire: 445 responses. Professional clients: 150 individuals | The | |
| Questionnaire in which households were supported by kitchen scales, measuring glasses and a manual | Households in Hungary | 165 households | Globally, 532.76 kg of food waste generated, of which 475 kg solid and 57.75 kg liquid. Total per capita food waste was 65.49 kg per year |
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