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Item Preschool food waste and nutrition behavior(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2017) Milodragovich, Allison Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Selena Ahmed; Carmen Byker (co-chair); Carmen Byker Shanks, Selena Ahmed, Christine Lux and Chris Barbour were co-authors of the article, 'Mixed methods analysis of preschool plate waste and food preferences' submitted to the journal 'Journal of nutrition education and behavior' which is contained within this thesis.; Carmen Byker Shanks, Selena Ahmed, Christine Lux and Chris Barbour were co-authors of the article, 'Analysis of preschool nutrition behaviors' submitted to the journal 'Journal of nutrition education and behavior' which is contained within this thesis.While fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is a key component of healthy diets, evidence demonstrates that preschool-aged children in the USA do not meet dietary recommendations for FVs. Preliminary research has shown children that children receive fifty to sixty-five percent of nutrients during the school day through child nutrition programs. Concurrently, children are not eating enough FVs at the same time. The primary objective is to quantify the amount of food waste that occurs in the CACFP utilized in a preschool setting. The secondary objective is to examine the effectiveness of a FV nutrition education program on decreasing the amount of food wasted. A cross-sectional and quasi-experimental research project was implemented to collect food waste and observational measurements at the following three-day intervals corresponding to a nutrition education intervention: (1) pre-education phase, (2) behavioral education phase, (3) personal education phase, and (4) post-education phase. Quantitative food waste measurements were conducted through direct weighing. A unique observational tool was developed, piloted, and implemented. Food preference data was collected through a commonly implemented child preference survey. Findings from the plate waste data indicate that 43.6% total waste occurred across all data collection time periods with vegetables being the most wasted food category with an average of 66% waste across all data collection periods. Compared to vegetables, fruit is wasted at a lower rate of 18.2% across all data collection periods. Serving waste is the primary source of waste for all food categories representing 80% of total waste, while plate waste represents 16 % of total waste. Plate waste across the nutrition education periods found significant (p < 0.05) differences between the pre-education phase amount of 10.8% and post-education phase amount of 4.6%. No significant differences were found between means of total and serving waste across the four data collection periods of the nutrition education. Observational measurements showed greater incidence of positive fruit behavior. Preference data found that children prefer fruits over vegetables. Findings have the potential to inform the CACFP as well as other food and nutrition programs that seek to support healthy eating habits among pre-school children while supporting sustainability.Item Understanding the effects of food waste reduction methods and the implementation of a food waste program(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Heath & Human Development, 2016) Leitch, Alicia Rae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Carmen Byker; Carmen Byker Shanks and Selena Ahmed were co-authors of the article, 'Food waste reduction strategies in large foodservice operations: a systematic review of literature' submitted to the journal 'Journal of sustainability' which is contained within this thesis.; Carmen Byker Shanks, Selena Ahmed and Thomas Bass were co-authors of the article, 'Understanding the effects of food waste reduction methods and the implementation of a food waste program' submitted to the journal 'Journal of sustainability' which is contained within this thesis.Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year totaling nearly a third of all food produced in the world.1 Food service operations are one of the leading contributors to food waste.2 Decreasing the amount of food waste is an emerging priority of the United States Department of Agriculture. Large-scale food service operations such as university dining facilities may be prime location to implement food waste reduction strategies in order to reduce overall food waste and increase sustainability. Despite the notable contribution of large-scale food service operations to food waste, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness food waste reduction strategies in such operations. The research presented here seeks to address this research need of identifying food waste reduction strategies and their effectiveness within large food service operations through a systematic review of literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement guidelines. Findings from this systematic review were synthesized to design and implement a cross-sectional pre and post study evaluating the effectiveness of two food waste reduction strategies including dining facility changes as well as a large service style renovation. Findings of the systematic review indicate that implementing food waste reduction strategies are effective in reducing overall food waste. Analysis of the cross-sectional pre and post study indicated a positive effect of dining hall renovation on reducing food waste. Findings from this study provide valuable information to inform food waste research and evidence on designing policies and practices to reduce food waste in large-scale food service operations.