Results of the actual consumption of acquired food at home by the Regusto bag
On 26 September 2024, at the Retaste Conference, LOWINFOOD partner Camilla Comis (University of Tuscia) presented the results of the study carried out in the framework of LOWINFOOD about post-consumption habits of consumers who bring leftovers home.
Food-sharing platforms and the practice of taking home leftovers after dining out are recognized as viable approaches to mitigating the phenomenon of reducing food loss and waste. However, a critical gap persists as academic studies usually do not systematically assess the actual consumption of this food at home and its correlation with post-consumption waste.
This study was carried out by leveraging primary data from the Regusto technological innovation, an innovative application that allowed measuring and tracking the actual consumption of acquired food at home, both the surplus food sold by restaurants to consumers and leftovers taken away by consumers. A QR code attached to the Regusto bag that customers take home with leftovers or the ordered takeaway meal contained a questionnaire that customers filled out to report the amount of food consumed and wasted.
Based on the experience of 574 respondents, the results showed an 88.2% reduction in food waste, confirming the potential of food-sharing platforms and the use of doggy bags in reducing food waste. However, post-consumer food waste differed between leftover waste (23.6%) and takeaway food waste (11.4%).
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