After the "CD Action", how to improve campus dining waste
"Meal with the class teacher", "CD-for-fruit plate", "half-dish"... Preventing campus dining waste is an important lesson after the beginning of this semester.
In large, middle and elementary schools across the country, canteens have undergone various innovations and reforms, and food education education has also been interspersed in the middle of the classroom, becoming an important part of the "CD Action".
Has school food waste been improved for more than a month?
How do students view food waste?
What kind of meals and dining environment do they desire?
The reporter conducted field investigations in large, middle and elementary schools.
1. "Not delicious" and "can't finish eating" are the main reasons for waste
Before the field investigation, on the WeChat official account and client of this newspaper, the reporter first sent out a questionnaire survey of "Decisive Battle! Campus CD" for teachers and students in universities, middle schools and primary schools.
The survey collected 1180 valid questionnaires, including 198 teachers and 982 students.
The results show that 38% of teachers and students believe that campus food waste is "very serious", 43% of teachers and students think it is "somewhat serious", and only 16% of teachers and students think it is "under control".
Among the causes of waste, 401 votes were chosen for "Uneatable", accounting for 33% of the total, and 554 votes for "Not delicious", accounting for 46% of the total.
Is "not tasty" the main cause of waste?
With doubts, the reporter randomly selected a university, a 9-year consistent high school and a nutrition catering company to investigate.
Less than 11 o'clock at noon, the students successively walked into the cafeteria to eat lunch.
The reporter entered the canteen three times at 11, 11:30, and 12 to observe and found that most of the students’ dishes were “clean”, but there were still a few students with leftovers.
Student Xu Xiao told reporters: "After the CD campaign was advocated, there were more CDs in school cafeterias, but overall there are still more leftovers."
"Actually, the reasons why everyone leftovers are nothing more than two points. One is that the quality of the food is not high; the other is that the amount of food is not well controlled. For example, I told the rice cooker to order one or half portion, but in fact I Found that the weight is not much worse." Xu Xiao said.
"Waste exists in schools to varying degrees, but I think the university is doing relatively well." Jiang Qian, a student in a college in Tianjin, said, "The waste in the canteen of a university, such as breakfast, often has less food left, lunch and dinner leftovers. There will be more food. Boys have relatively few leftovers."
As for the reason, she said, "Delicious or not" is the most important thing. "Before the outbreak, many small restaurants near our school were very popular with students. Basically, they were full when they arrived. Waiting in line, to put it bluntly, they do delicious food."
Liu Ying, a lecturer at the School of Education of Zhengzhou University, told reporters that after the implementation of the "CD Action" in universities, canteen waste has improved, but there are still more "recycled" foods.
She summarized several characteristics of food waste in school cafeterias.
"First, in terms of the types of wasted food, vegetables are more wasteful, followed by soy products. The staple food of pasta is second only to soy products, and the least waste is meat. Second, in terms of the amount of wasted food Rice and noodle products are the most wasteful staple food, followed by soy products. Thirdly, from the perspective of waste groups, male and female students generally have wasteful behaviors, but girls generally put more food on the tableware than boys."
The situation of the field survey basically confirmed the results of the questionnaire survey.
The reporter chose to visit a primary school in Beijing at lunch time.
In the lower grades, students line up to get lunch.
The meal process was very quiet. Some students raised their hands and added some more meals.
The reporter noticed that some Cai children did not move a bite.
There was a dish of "Assorted Organic Cauliflower" for lunch that day. After eating other food, a kid put the dish in the lunch box as it was.
Class teacher Dong Yang told reporters that they talked about nutritional collocation during class, “No matter how delicious the dishes are, you can’t eat more. As long as they are nutritious, you should also eat the dishes you don’t like. If some children are really unwilling to eat certain Dishes, we will let them stay in the lunch box and be recycled by the teacher."
2. A nutritious meal that is difficult to adjust should be delicious and more nutritious
What do teachers and students think about wasting food?
The questionnaire showed that there were 509 votes for "shameful waste", accounting for 43% of the total. However, 54% of teachers and students chose "shameful but no way".
Why is there no way?
The reasons vary.
During the investigation, the reporter found that some students had "unacceptable" dishes.
A parent in Xicheng District, Beijing, told reporters that as long as there are "mushrooms" in the dishes, his children must not eat them.
After the reporter completed the investigation of a school, just as the school was over, a senior student went straight into a small shop to buy a pack of mustard greens and eat while walking.
"The school cafeteria is too light, I can't eat it, I just want to eat it."
Regarding the choice of students, the reporter interviewed Deng Lin (pseudonym), manager of Beijing Fangxin Xiaolingtong Nutritional Catering Company.
Deng Lin told reporters that primary and secondary schools have their own requirements for nutritional catering. The calorie, nutrition, and ingredients are all calculated by the nutritionist in advance.
“We also know that many children don’t like to eat green leafy vegetables, but we have to do it because it is their essential nutrition for a day. We prepare food in accordance with the requirements of the “Chinese School-age Children’s Dietary Guidelines”, including the combination of oil and salt. There is a quantitative amount and it cannot be too high or too low."
In his eyes, the waste in university canteens is better than that in middle school canteens, and the waste in canteens is better than nutritious meals.
"University cafeterias are relatively more free, because college students are close to adults, they can fry and cook. The eight major cuisines can match each other, and they can also match Chinese and Western dishes to increase snacks and snacks. The chef has more room to play and can meet the taste requirements of the students. Canteens in primary and secondary schools should take into account the physical condition of students and provide dishes mainly to meet the growth and development." Deng Lin said.
At about 10 o'clock every morning, the nutritious meal is out, and it is quickly loaded and distributed to more than a dozen primary and secondary schools in different areas of Beijing.
"We have been in this business for more than ten years. In the past ten years, children's tastes have not changed much. Although some people say that they like western fast food, we found from the food feedback that children still like to eat home-cooked food. Said that scrambled eggs with tomatoes are the most popular among students, and they are always CDs." Deng Lin told reporters.
Since the beginning of school, some school cafeterias have adopted activities such as "half dishes", "small dishes", and "CD for fruit trays". Some colleges and universities have also used big data calculations and other mechanisms to significantly improve the waste of catering.
But Deng Lin said that there is not much room for these "small coups" to learn from nutritional meals in primary and secondary schools.
"Because the school canteen can be quantified, but the nutritious meals are not. The calories of the nutritious meals are calculated according to the average standard. It is not enough if there are children who cannot eat. Therefore, the nutritious meals will be provided each time more than originally planned. In terms of degree, the degree of savings is definitely not as good as the canteen."
Despite various restrictions, the reporter learned that during this period of time after the beginning of school, the eating situation of primary and middle school students was "well done."
"During the epidemic, the students did not eat school meals for 8 months, so they felt fresh. At the same time, this semester, many primary and secondary schools have consciously increased the number and intensity of physical education classes, such as skipping ropes, sit-ups, etc. The sports test is about to come for a while recently, and the children attach great importance to it and hurry up to practice. If the amount of exercise is large every day, the children will eat better." Dong Yang said.
3. There is an economic account behind food education
Recently, the Ministry of Education issued the "Education System "Stop Food Waste and Cultivate Saving Habits" Action Plan". At the same time, the Ministry of Education has also jointly issued an initiative to stop food waste in conjunction with the Communist Youth League Central Committee and other four departments.
Earlier, the Capital Civilization Engineering Foundation and "Civilization Magazine" have just proposed "one virtue, two wisdom and three delicacies", that is, "the virtues of diligence and thrift", "scientific and healthy beauty" and "nutritious and delicious delicacy", and called for the establishment of "double 11 Civilized Food Day".
In terms of "opposing waste", public opinion is continuously and widely concerned.
However, how to "get into the brain and into the heart" and prevent the superficial tendency of "water passing through the soil" requires the "hidden" power behind it-"food education".
The results of the questionnaire survey also confirmed this point. What are the reasons for the long-term existence of campus waste?
More than 49% of teachers and students chose "the effect of food education is not good, lack of good concepts and behavior habits".
Some people think that "waste" is a "by-product" after living a rich life. Teachers and students pay more attention to the quality of life and the taste of food, but at the same time, new problems have also arisen.
According to Liu Xiaojie, an associate researcher of the Institute of Geographical Resources and Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, picky eaters and partial eclipses are one reason for waste.
She and her colleagues found that food education education can fundamentally alleviate waste on campus.
The food education team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences visited 53 schools in a poverty-stricken area twice in May and October 2019. They found that on the one hand, local students were malnourished, but on the other hand, they were also very picky eaters. Seriously, waste in school cafeterias and "nutritious lunches" occurs from time to time.
Since November 2019, they have started pilot food education education in three kindergartens and two elementary schools in the poverty-stricken area to help students establish the concept of cherishing food and caring for the environment, and at the same time popularize the relationship between food nutrition and balanced matching. Within two months, the school’s “disc phenomenon” has clearly improved. We believe that food education education should pay more attention to pertinence. In poor areas, our food education education mainly focuses on nutrition and how to prevent health problems. Sickness is used to solve the problem of returning to poverty due to illness and poverty due to illness. Behind food and education is an economic account. These examples shock children a lot and can better solve the phenomenon of picky eating." Liu Xiaojie told reporters.
Meng Qingfen, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Nutritional Meal Industry Collaborative Innovation Platform, believes that food education education should "make children respect food and develop habits. They should be told how to grow up healthy from the perspective of saving food and cherishing resources. She reminded the primary and middle school students, "Waste has two levels. The obvious waste is like school kitchen waste. The invisible waste is not eating or knowing how to eat, and picky eaters are also wasteful."
“After the epidemic, the food education education should be the most important thing for children. How to eat can enhance immunity and resist the epidemic. The core of this year’s National Nutrition Day is the immune diet. I learned that there are two primary schools in Hangzhou that require all children to save money. Food appraisal, establishment of a saving and waste reward and punishment mechanism, so that children have behavior constraints. Not only education, but also punishment, this is the complete food education education." Meng Qingfen told reporters.
Li Mingliang, a professor at the International Business School of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, also recognized the role of "disciplinary". "To eradicate this'disease', it requires the concerted efforts of schools, parents, and society. On the one hand, schools should increase the supervision and control of food in cafeterias. Governance efforts, improve the variety, nutrition and quality of meals, and create a safe, healthy and warm dining environment for students; at the same time, try to incorporate students’ repeated wasting of meals into the assessment of personal morality and scholarship assessment for students in school Students form a certain'deterrent'."
(Our reporter Yao Xiaodan Jin Haotian)