Determinant Factors of Hospital Food Waste in Surgical and Medical Wards at the Teaching Hospital, Kuliyapitiya

Food waste is a global health issue challenging sustainable development. The Ministry of Health has reported that the monthly wasted food amount in Teaching Hospital Kuliyapitiya as six thousand kilograms per month and 30% of that food is provided by the hospital. Hospital food waste has significant social, economic, and nutritional impacts. This study aimed to determine the factors affecting hospital-supplied food waste among in patients of medical and surgical wards at Teaching Hospital Kuliyapitiya (THK). This was a quantitative descriptive study. The patients of age in between 20 to 60 years admitted to medical and surgical wards at THK who were having hospital diet as the meal, was selected as the sample for this study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were computed to analyse data using SPSS version 23. The results showed that 48.5% of the participants were dissatisfied with Lunch and 57.8% of the participants were dissatisfied with chewing status of the food. The findings of the study concluded that the most common factors for hospital food waste as; timing of dinner serving, courtesy of the staff who serve food, dissatisfaction with the dining places, poor ventilation of dining places and the dissatisfaction of the hygienic condition of serving food. Moreover, inappropriate temperature of serving food and dissatisfied taste of the food were also reported as the most common factors for food waste. Keywords: Hospital Food; food waste; determinant factors