The Tours hospital is trying to reduce food waste in its five self-service canteens and two boarding schoolsnotably by redistributing food to students. Since January 2024, a solidarity fridge has been filled daily for students at the Health Professions Training Institute (IFPS), with leftover meals.
Nursing school students, nursing assistant apprentices or even future paramedics: around 1,000 students have access to the fridge, in theory. “As a student, we don’t necessarily have the means, says Solène, 19, a student in the radiological manipulation course. We know that in this fridge, it’s free, we don’t have to pay anything. Afterwards, you have to arrive on time, before everyone else. Every time I go there, there’s nothing left at all, because everyone needs it and everyone benefits from it.”
6,000 meals planned per day at the hospital
This process allows CHRU de Tours to further reduce waste. “The particularity of hospital catering is that we have patients who come and go every day. SO predicting the quantity of meals to be served is complicatedespecially when we do 6,000 per day and therefore we are never close to the unit“, describes Eric Ledieu, responsible for catering at the Touraine hospital. Despite meal planning, “we always have production ends, around five trays remaining or even a little more”.
Most of the food is donated to the Food Bank, but there remains approximately 2% hospital-wide food loss. “It’s hard to get down below. according to Eric Ledieu. We only throw away the minimum, and this minimum is all the foods that have reached their expiry date (DLC). A piece of fish whose date ends the same eveningthe Food Bank doesn’t take it and a student will take it.“A system that”delights” students according to this catering manager, according to a meeting held last May regarding the system.
Daily deliveries
This distribution requires a certain organization. The CHRU catering center makes the fridge available, takes care of its technical maintenance and provides food. For its part, the student office manages the disposal of food that has not been consumed. The students also take care of cleaning the fridge and ensuring traceability. “It’s exactly like the central kitchen of the hospital. We have Fridge temperature information to ensure food is preserved at a good temperature“, specifies Eric Ledieu.
There is still some food that is thrown away when it is not eaten, but it is difficult to do otherwise according to the engineer in charge of hospital catering. “These losses are linked to patients who are not able to eat a normal meal. We are obliged to make textured, milled, mixed foods. Because they have dysphasia, they risk choking on normal foods. But no one is going to eat these leftovers, even if they are good food.“
