Food safety and food waste in one Portuguese public hospital

The present study aims to contribute to the sustainable development goals by increasing knowledge of food safety and food waste of meals produced by cook-chill system in hospital units. The food waste (FW) of meals served at lunch was evaluated to all new hospitalized patients with light diet (n=17) and soft texture diet (n=10), during their hospital stay, using the physical method by weighing for dish and the visual estimation method for the soup. Samples of each diet (light, n=3; soft texture, n=3) were also collected in four different moments (after cooked, after cold transportation, after refrigerated storage and after hot regeneration) to detection and enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus, and enumeration of Escherichia coli, Clostridium spp., Bacillus cereus, Enterobacteriaceae, total viable counts (TVC) at 30 ºC, as well as pH, water activity, moisture, ashes and protein. The FW (%) of the light diet (n=64) was 39.8±6.3 in dish and 14.9±5.4 in soup and of the soft texture diet (n=51) was 65.1±9.0 in dish and 39.0±5.8 in soup. Regarding the percentage of protein per meal, both light (8.73%) and soft (3.33%) diets presented in average values lower than those recommended by the WHO (10-15% protein). The value of different microorganisms varied along the production moments, however the final products in light diet (after hot regeneration) presented 1.34-1.73 log ufc/g of TVC. Counts of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus were also obtained at low levels (less than 1 log ufc/g). Besides these results, the risk of foodborne diseases should be considered. The implementation of effective measures to increase food safety and reduce FW in hospital is crucial.