Leftovers
As food waste or leftovers are called remnants of food , which were intended for human consumption and are left in the preparation or serving. Food leftovers are recyclable according to waste law . The systematic destruction of large parts of the food produced for nutrition is known as food waste .
Further processing
Small quantities
In individual households , food that is intentionally or unintentionally left over during preparation or after serving is often consumed with subsequent meals . For example, in “Dr. Oetkers Schulkochbuch ”from 1920 under the chapter“ The use of leftover food ”the comment that leftovers that can never be completely avoided are reheated in most households.
On the other hand, leftovers can also be used to prepare new main meals on the following days. In German-speaking countries there are special recipes that require leftovers of a certain type or generally as an ingredient or part of a dish. The consumption and preparation of dishes whose ingredients come wholly or partially from previous meals are referred to as leftover food .
In restaurants , parts of a meal that are not consumed are packed in a " doggy bag " for guests to take home if they wish .
In parts of Germany, leftovers and rotting waste from private households are disposed of in a compost bin and sent to composting and / or energy generation.
Large quantities
Food waste occurs in large quantities in hospitals, restaurants, hotels, canteens, supermarkets and in the food industry. Leftover but not yet opened food is often used to care for the homeless , for example by Caritas or the Tafel .
Food leftovers that arise in very large quantities are often collected and processed into animal feed in a processing plant . In Germany, feeding to animals was only allowed until October 31, 2006. As an alternative to recycling, leftovers can be used as a co- substrate for a biogas plant after hygienization .
Food safety and hygiene
The duration and type of storage of leftovers for reuse are the subject of numerous bacteriological studies. According to the American Dietetic Association's guidelines for the shelf life of leftovers, freshly cooked vegetables and soups can last between three and four days, cooked or roasted meat between one and five days, and cooked or fried fish dishes between one and two days at a temperature of 4 ° C or lower Days.
In order to rule out the spread of animal diseases when animals are fed, the feeding of leftovers is prohibited in the EU, except in the private sector. Otherwise, depending on the composition, sanitization at a temperature of 90 ° C for one hour or sterilization at 133 ° C and a pressure of 3 bar for 20 minutes is legally required for processing waste from food production .
The company ReFood disposes of leftover food for energy recovery and cleans its bins with 65 ° C warm water. However, municipal compost bins are usually not cleaned. According to, however, most of the germs contained are harmless to healthy people and also contained in soil.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dr. Oetker's school cookbook, edition C, also gest. By Emilie Henneking, Bielefeld (approx. 1920), p. 106
- ↑ Roberta Larson Duyff and ADA: American Dietetic Association complete food and nutrition guide , American Dietetic Association, Revised and Updated 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0470041153
- ↑ http://www.refood.de/rf/speiseresteentsorgung/ Web site of the Refood company for food waste disposal, accessed on December 26, 2017
- ↑ https://www.lfu.bayern.de/buerger/doc/uw_30_kompostierung_hygiene.pdf Bavarian State Office for the Environment: Composting - hygienic aspects , page 6, accessed on December 26, 2017