INTRODUCTION

Food waste in the foodservice industry is one of the most-recognizable areas of

food waste. What is probably the main reason behind this? People who dine out

have internally debated the pros and cons of doggy-bagging leftovers, and the

majority of customers share experience of ordering the waiter to take the extra food

way, knowing it was destined for the dumpster.

Food enthusiasts frequently seek out establishments that offer more for their

money, as well enjoying the abundance of buffets and cafeteria-style eating, all of

which generate large amounts of food ate. Most countries also cultivate a thriving

fast food industry, and the consequences of producing cheap, ready-to-go food are

careless food waste policies.

According to a 2005 study at the University of Arizona, food waste as a percentage

of the total food used is 9.55% in fast food establishments and 3.11% in full

service restaurants in the United States. That may not seem concerning, but, to put

the statistics in perspective, the same study estimated that the total food loss per

day amounted to 49,296,540 lbs in all full service restaurants and 85,063,390 lbs in

all fast food restaurants. While this is a projected value based on collected data, it

gives an idea of the sheer amount of food that is wasted on a daily basis in food

service.

The sources of food waste in restaurants vary greatly, but, on average, a restaurant

can produce 150,000 lbs of garbage per year.

There is more to restaurant food waste than merely what the customers choose not

to eat, a fact that tends to be ignored in the restaurant business. The pre-consumer

kitchen waste, which could be incorrectly prepared food, spoiled food, trim waste,

or simply overproduction, constitutes an estimate 4-10% of purchased food,

becoming waste before it ever reaches the table. There are solutions for reducing

this portion of food waste, such as donating to a food bank, assessing prep waste to

determine poor practices or highly wasteful items, and creative re-use of certain

foods like for example making day old bread into croutons. These solutions might

not be revolutionary, and yet they could make a difference with a bit of effort.

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Due to a heightened public awareness as a result of all types of media

coverage concerning food borne illnesses, the level of training for employees

working in the food industry in general needs to be increased. This is a

responsibility that the food industry has to their clients and the general public.

Regardless of type of processing or food handling operation, the number one

consideration in food sanitation is people. It is people who set the rules, follow the

rules, and also break the rules of sanitation.

A sanitation program is as good as the attitude, willingness, and efforts of

people. That is why the most important aspect of a sanitation program is ongoing

personnel training. It is essential that the full meaning of sanitation and its wide

economic scope be accepted by everyone concerned in the food system-including

management. Personnel training should include appropriate sanitation principles

and food handling practices, manufacturing controls, and personal hygiene Good

personal hygiene is a basic requirement for implementing a strong food safety

program.

All foodservice employees must follow Standard Operating Procedures for

personal hygiene that comply with the Food Code and that are customized for their

work area. Despite this fact, it is interesting to note that research conducted by the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows that poor personal hygiene practices

can be seen in retail foodservice establishments, which includes elementary

schools, hospitals, nursing homes and restaurants. Hygiene practices should be

communicated prior to employment and reaffirmed with periodic training

programs. Workers can carry pathogens internally and on their hands, skin and

hair. It is imperative that they follow and understand basic food protection

practices and maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness and good sanitation

practices to prevent food product contamination.

Management should serve as role models for good work habits and

acceptable hygienic practices. They should. Once continually emphasize how

important it is. Policies should reassure the employees that they will not lose their

jobs if they report an illness or communicable disease employees understand what

is expected of them, effective supervision of employee practices should be used to

ensure that employees follow proper procedures. Training should be conducted

annually and reviewed whenever incorrect practices are observed.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

INPUT

PROCESS

OUTPUT

Sanitation Procedures and Proper segregation of wastes performed by restaurant employees during their duties.

To be able to determine the sanitation and proper segregation of wastes procedures/guidelines followed by restaurant employees.

To ensure food is free from:

1. Food contamination

2. Food Spoilage

3. Food Poisoning

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study focuses on “SANITATION AND PROPER SEGREAGTAION

OF RESTAURANT WASTES”

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How do restaurant employees follow hygienic practices and proper

sanitation of wastes in terms of:

1.1Personal Hygiene

1.2Kitchen Hygiene

1.3Dining Area Hygiene

2. What are the necessary sanitation procedures sheer enough to avoid food

contamination?

3. What are the remedies that can be applied to reduce restaurant wastes?

4. What are some factors affecting safety and sanitation procedure in a

restaurant?

5. How do restaurant employees follow sanitation procedures in terms of

1.1Dining Area

1.2Kitchen Area

1.3Storage Area

HYPOTHESIS

It was hypothesized that the development and delivery of a food safety education

program for participating food establishment employees or personnel as well as

volunteers would increase food safety knowledge and adoption of safe food

handling practices and presumably decrease incidence of food-borne illness in

those receiving assistance.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study would be beneficial to the following:

To Researcher

It serves as a foundation of knowledge, as to learn and understand on how

sanitation procedures and hygienic practices have an important role in a food

service industry.

To HRM students

This study will result in efficient and reliable source of information that

would help students to have a better understanding on how importance the

hygienic practices and sanitation in a food service establishment.

To School Administrator

This study will provide information in better understanding of food safety,

sanitation and hygiene. Thus, the school administrator may gain additional

knowledge regarding hygienic practices and sanitation guidelines to prevent food

contamination, food spoilage and food poisoning.

To Food Service Management

It will provide information on how to maintain hygienic conditions in any

food service establishment. Food service management is obligated to protect the

health of customers and personnel. Educating and training of personnel in the

principles of sanitation and good personal hygiene are essential. A person’s

behavior regarding sanitation and personal habits have a significant effect on the

safety of food.

To Future Researcher

It serves as a basis in conducting further researcher related to this study and

importantly, this research will educate people who work in a food service industry

on how to be responsible to their work as they provide foods to the customers that

contribute to food safety.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This research entitled “SANITATION AND PROPER SEGREGATION OF

RESTAURANT WASTES” focuses on sanitation and proper segregation

procedures encompassing hygienic practices in restaurants only earmarking owners

as well as employees. The most important limitation to the study was that it was

not guaranteed that this food safety education program would actually make food

safer for the community. This study did not involve testing the actual safety of the

food, but measuring the knowledge and adoption of safe food handling practices of

food recovery workers who make the food available to the community in the

Philippines. Another limitation to the study involved issuing the delayed post-

survey to the participants. Frequent turnover of the staff exists, and inability to

locate the original participants of the study could pose a limitation.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Related Literature

(Alvarez, 2010 pp.147) “Cleanliness and personal hygiene of food workers

are extremely important in the food service and food processing establishments”.It

means that all employees shall maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness and

shall conform to good hygienic practices during allthose working periods.Alvarez

enumerated several guidelines for food service employees.

Employees hygiene practices includes the following, first all employees

must wash their hands with soap and water when they are arrive at work and before

starting food preparation, all employees mush wash their hands with soap and

water after they used the toilet, after covering mouth or nose after sneezing or

coughing, employees with long hair must wear hats, hair nets or other form of hair

restraint, employees must wear clean clothes, employees with cuts or sores on their

hands must wear disposable latex gloves, finger cots or other water proof covering

as needed, employees with diarrhea or severe coughing are not allowed to work,

employees coats and other private articles must be stored in a designated area,

employees should eat only during assigned breaks, not while working in the

kitchen, and lastly all non-working and unauthorized persons must be restricted

fromthe food preparation and service areas.

Furthermore, personal habits affect food safety. In preparing food, food

workers must remove their watches, rings, bracelets and all other jewelry on the

arms or handsout of food.Fingernails must be trimmed so they are easy to clean.

Hair restraints are intended to keep hands out of hair and hair out of food. Hair

must be effectively restrained whenever you are working around food or food

preparation areas.

Poor personal hygiene practices can contaminate food and food surfaces

(Ang, 2010 pp26). The most common source of food borne illness can be traced to

food handlers. Common personal hygiene violations that can result in food borne

illness include failure to wash hand properly, failure to follow proper hygiene

habits, working when sick, and lack of training in personal hygiene practices.

Furthermore, cross contamination occurs when microorganisms are transferred

from a contaminated food contact surface of food to a non-contact surface or food.

According to Environmental Health Department, National Environment

Agency, 2007 considering all persons working in a retail food establishment

should practice good personal and food hygiene to ensure that food served to

consumers is safe for consumption. It is important for front-line service staffs,

waiters and waitresses to observe good hygiene practices so as to avoid introducing

contamination into the food being served. Their food handling and personal

hygiene practices may also influence customer decisions in re-visiting the food

establishment. The following guidelines inform food establishment operators and

service staff of the good hygiene practices that should be adopted when serving

food to customers.

Food safety hygiene applies to any venue that operates a permanent or

temporary kitchen or smaller food preparation area for storing, preparing,

displaying and serving food, for example: commercial catering and retail venues

like restaurants, cafes, clubs, hotels, event venues, conference venues fast food

outlets retail food outlets such as sandwich shops and food courts, tour operators

who prepare and serve food at temporary sites.

(Cabuhal,2010 pp.119) stated that food manager preventive measures

implements to ensure food safety should begin during hiring stage of food service

industry workers. This strategy is accomplished through the health screening and

careful training of food service employees after they had been hired. Policies

should be designed, implemented and monitored to cover employees’ illnesses,

proper attire, and personal hygiene habits. The specific methods aimed to fulfill the

intent of these policies are frequently referred to as infection control procedures.

From the online sourcewww.kitchendining.com the most important food

safety tool is clean hands. Hand washing gets rid of the microorganisms on hands

that can make people sick. It is important to wash your hands often throughout the

day, even when they look clean.Washing your hands often is the most important

thing you can do to keep microorganisms out of your body and out of the food you

prepare.

Food workers must know when and how to wash their hands. Workers are

required to wash their hands before they begin food preparation and any time

hands may be contaminated, such as after using the toilet, after handling raw meat,

fish, or poultry, after handling garbage or dirty dishes, after taking a break, eating,

drinking, or smoking, after sneezing, coughing, or blowing the nose, after using

chemicals, after handling money or a cash register.

According to (Subida, 2007 pp.168) food isbeing contaminated as a result of

food handlers with poor personal hygiene whose hands are not washes in between

preparing different type of food, after touching any source of bacteria like nose,

mouth, hair, contaminated equipment, contaminated raw food or ingredient,

contaminated kitchen utensils like chopping boards and knives, using the same

utensil for preparing two or more different foods. There are basic principles of

food protection against bacteria. First, wash hands, cutting boardsand all dishes

that came into contact with raw meat, fish, or poultry. Secondmake sure raw food

and cooked foods are kept separated. Third cover all foods. Fourth cook all meat,

fish and poultry thoroughly. Fifth get rid of garbage or refuse carefully in covered

bins. And lastly sanitize all equipment.

(Ang, 2010 pp.106) stated that “small batch preparation” is a technique can

be used to promote safety during preparation. There are several guidelines in

preparing safe food. First, handle foods as little as possible. Second, use tongs,

spatulas, or other utensils instead of hands. Third, use clean sanitized equipment

work tables. Clean and sanitize cutting surfaces and equipment after handling raw

poultry, meat, fish or eggs before working on another food. Fourth, clean as you

go. Do not wait to clean the workplace until the end of the workday. Fifth, wash

raw fruits and vegetables thoroughly. Sixth, when bringing foods out of

refrigeration, do not bring out more than what can be processes in an hour.Seventh,

keeps foods cover whenever possible unless in immediate use. And last, do not mix

leftover with freshly prepared foods.

Related Studies

Local Studies

Based on the study conducted by Joyce Macaraeg, 2012 a person behavior in

sanitation and personal habits can have a significant effect on the safety of food

product. Food handlers should be trained to ensure appropriate behavior. The

cleanliness and personal hygiene of food workers are extremely important.

Therefore, good personal hygiene is essential for those who handle foods. A

desirable behavior includes when and how to wash hands properly. Maintaining

good personal habits such as bathing, restraining hair, keeping finger nails short

and clean, washing hands after using toilets etc. and maintaining good health and

reporting when sick to avoid spreading possible infections.

Furthermore, based on the study conducted by Grimaldo, 2012, food shall be

protected from cross-contamination by separating raw foods from ready-to-eat

foods during storage, preparation, holding, and display. Equipment and utensils

including knives, cutting boards, and food storage containers must be thoroughly

cleaned and sanitized after being used for raw animal foods and before being used

for ready-to-eat food. In addition she suggested that organizations should establish

personal hygiene rules that are clearly defined and uniformly and rigidly enforced.

These regulations should be documented, posted and clearly spelled out in

booklets. Policy should address personal cleanliness, working attire, acceptable

food handling practices, and the use of tobacco and other prohibited practices.

Foreign Studies

There are several studies that have discussed that the main causes

of microbial contamination typically occurring in foodservice establishments are

contaminated supplies, dirty food contact surfaces, poor personnel hygiene

practices, inappropriate storage temperatures, and

insufficient cooking (Käferstein, 2003; Griffith & Clayton, 2005; WHO, 2007;

EFSA,2007; Jones et al., 2008).More in detail, various studies have demonstrated

that the main sources of cross contamination during processing come from food

contact surfaces, equipment and employees (Gill et al., 2001; McEnvoy et al.,

2004; Tsalo et al., 2007; Aarnisalo et al.,2006; Bagge-Ravn et al., 2003; Cools et

al., 2005; Fuster-Valls et al., 2008). Equipment and surfaces can be source of direct

contamination when they have not been effectively cleaned or remained wet

between cleaning and use (Evans et al., 2004). Food handlers have a major role in

the prevention of food borne diseases since they may cross contaminate raw and

ready-to-eat food, and be asymptomatic carriers of food poisoning microorganisms

(Walker et al., 2003). Hand washing interventions may be more effective if

perceptions of food workers are considered. For example, concern for customers

health, concern for personal health, and taking pride in providing a quality product

were factors seen by participants as positively influencing hand washing practice.

Developing an understanding of how these factors could be incorporated into hand

washing training could enable development of behavioral interventions to

encourage hand washing. Much of the current hand washing training relies on the

knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) model (Clayton et al., 2002),

FINDING RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

In this study, even though no significant changes in the practices were detected, the

potential effect of training was verified. If continuous and specific-goal oriented

training is provided to employees, sanitation practices such as health checking,

proper hand-washing, observation of uniform code, prevention of cross-

contamination, or proper sanitation techniques could be easily improved.

Food waste in fast food restaurants is a serious issue that contributes to social,

environmental, and economic problems. It leads to higher rates of food insecurity,

especially among needy families, causes atmospheric pollution, and results in

millions of dollars wasted on inputs. To combat this issue, this proposed plan

encourages fast food chains to donate excess food, utilize biodegradable supplies,

and recycle. It is found that the only way to get this initiative going is to lobby the

government to pass legislation that encourages the aforementioned behaviors. In

doing so, it will provide economic incentive for restaurant owners, and social cause

for community members. With proper segregation of wastes and hygienic practices

conducted among restaurant establishments it can be done. Therefore, by shifting

accountability on businesses, this study hopes to end the issue of fast food waste

and save lives.

RECCOMENDATION

The following recommendations are offered as possible ways to improve this

study.

1. When inquiring about researches about the topic, more precisely define or

delimit the term. This could also include the possibility of adding a separate

question about required areas of technical specialization, or technical elective

requirements that are not aimed at achieving technical proficiency in any specific

area.

2. Internet may not yet be a complete and enough tool to effectively use for

gathering information, thus strongly suggests books, magazines and newspapers

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Waste- Also called solid waste, this refers to all discarded household, commercial

waste, non-hazardous institutional and industrial waste, street sweepings,

construction debris, agricultural waste, and other non-hazardous/non-toxic solid

waste (Republic Act No. 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of

2000”).

Waste Management-Also called solid waste management, this refers to the

discipline associated with the control of generation, storage, collection, transfer

and transport, processing, and disposal of solid wastes in a manner that is in accord

with the best principles of public health, economics, engineering, conservation,

aesthetics, and other environmental considerations, and that is also responsive to

public attitudes (Republic Act No. 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act

of 2000”).

Waste Management Practice- This refers to the customary actions employed to

control the generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing, and

disposal of solid wastes.

Segregation- This refers to a solid waste management practice of separating

different materials found in solid waste in order to promote recycling and reuse of

resources and to reduce the volume of waste for collection and disposal (Republic

Act No. 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000”).

Reuse- This refers to the process of recovering materials intended for the same or

different purpose without the alteration of physical and chemical characteristics

(Republic Act No. 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000”).

Composting- This refers to the controlled decomposition of organic matter by

micro-organisms, mainly bacteria and fungi, into a humus-like product (Republic

Act No. 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000”).

Cross Contamination- is the transfer of disease causing microorganism, such as

bacteria and viruses, from one food to another.

Evaluation- is the structured interpretation and giving of meaning to predict or

actual impacts of proposals or results.

Fast Food Restaurant- generally refers to the type of restaurants that sell quick,

inexpensive take-out food.

Food contamination- refers to the presence in food of harmful chemicals and

microorganisms which can cause consumer illness.

Food Handler- Any person who handles opened or unopened food, equipment,

utensils or surfaces used for food preparation and serving.

Food Safety-refers to the conditions and practices that preserve the quality of food

to prevent contamination and food borne illnesses.

Good hygiene practices- all practices regarding the conditions and measures

necessary to ensure the safety and suitability of food at all stages of food chain.

Kitchen Hygiene-refers to the set standards that should be observed and

maintained in the kitchen.

Personal Hygiene- involves those practices performed by an individual to care for

one's bodily health and well-being, through cleanliness.

Sanitation- formulation and application of measures design to protect public

health.

Food safety education-education dealing with the practices that keep food safe

from environmental and bacterial contamination.

REFERENCES

Books:

Alvarez, Helen U.(Food Safety, Sanitation and Hygiene) Mind Shapers Co. Inc 2010

Ang, Mary Jane C. (Food Safety and Sanitation) C&E Publishing Inc.2010

Cabuhal,Gina Marie (Food Safety and Sanitation Hygiene) Mind Shapers Co. Inc. 2010

Managing A Food Safe-Kitchen (A Guide in Sanitation and Food Service Professionals, 2006)

Periodical:

Personal Hygiene and Food Safety (Food Quality & Safety Magazine, June/July 2006 )

Unpublished Thesis:

Clayton, D& GriffithC. (2004). Observation of food safety practices in catering using

notational analysis. British Food Journal, 106, 211-227.

Evans, James C. & Corry, J.L. (2004) Microbial contamination of food refrigeration

equipmentJournal of Food Engineering, 62, 225-232

Grimaldo, Gretchel “Assessment on Safety Hygiene and Sanitation Standards Practiced by

MangInasal and Gerry’s Grill” 2012

Macaraeg, Joyce “Value of Personal Hygiene and Sanitation as Perceived by Staffs of

MangInasalang Gerry’s Grill” 2012

Electronic Sources:

Environmental Health Department, National Environment Agency, Accessed 2009

Food Safety and Sanitation www.familymanagement.com Accessed August 08, 2011

Safety Management Services Food Handler Inc.www.foodhandler.com Accessed March 2009

The Importance of Cleaning and Sanitation of Kitchen Equipment Accessed 2007

www.kitchendining.com