Page 50 - DUT Excellence

MAGUBANE’S BOOK EXPLORES LOVEIN THE ERA OF
“The government should also consider providing funding or workshops to educate restaurant management on the importance of food waste management as well as mitigation plans so that all restaurants are able to combat the food waste problem in our country. More focus should be on the environment such as more food compost initiatives. Ideas from other countries should in uence South Africa, especially when it comes to policies surrounding food donations,” she said.
Sucheran indicated that she plans to continue her research and would like to look speci cally at certain types of restaurants – especially those with buffets, as the wastage is excessive.
“I am also keen on examining how restaurants managed their existing food supply during lockdown, especially their perishable food items. I believe that post COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants may have different strategies in place regarding waste, so it would also be interesting to do further research on this. I also plan to research more on restaurants that do have food waste management
strategies in place and to ascertain the effectiveness of such measures,” she said.
Her advice to other researchers who want to continue researching such a topic is that food waste will be different in every country and every restaurant will have different strategies to mitigate the amount of food wasted.“This is important for the sharing of ideas through research, and countries like South Africa can learn a lot from this. Primary data would be most bene cial in conjunction with a reliable and valid questionnaire to provide optimal results. Food waste is a major problem and it happens globally, therefore, research on this topic is extensive and it is vital that the best solutions are established in order to address the environmental and socio-economic aspects of food waste,” she said.
Sucheran is currently working as a Junior Industrial Engineer at SPAR, South Africa.
Waheeda Peters
The environmental, social and economic impacts of food waste is a global concern, and as an industrial engineer, it is vital to implement processes that minimise such waste. Also, in a country like South Africa, where hunger and poverty is of major concern, food waste mitigation strategies should be given top priority.
– Saijal Sucheran
48
DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY