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<p>The House of Commons has implemented a variety of initiatives to reduce the amount
of food waste. The only food which is disposed of consists of products that are not
safe to be consumed, following guidance from, for example, the Catering Services’
Food Safety Policy and in relation to use-by dates.</p><p>Measures taken to monitor
and reduce food waste from our catering venues includes:</p><ul><li>Menu plans and
cycles are used which enables orders to be planned in advance;</li></ul><ul><li>Most
dishes are made fresh in-house, which allows for improvisation if products need to
be used up, and enables short life products to be used in smoothies, soups and salads;</li></ul><ul><li>Stock
is regularly counted, and order volumes consider the level of stock-in-hand;</li></ul><ul><li>Dates
are checked regularly on ambient food products and any short life products are issued
to the kitchens for immediate use;</li></ul><ul><li>Many of the high-volume protein
items are ordered by unit (rather than weight) which makes portion control more accurate
and reduces the likelihood of over ordering;</li></ul><ul><li>Venue orders are checked
by a purchasing team for accuracy, to ensure that orders and volumes are correct and
in-line with historic figures;</li></ul><ul><li>The kitchens make salad items in-house,
meaning venues can cook-off and utilise any surplus protein products effectively;</li></ul><ul><li>Stock
is always rotated using ‘first-in, first-out’ principles;</li></ul><ul><li>Various
smart storage methods and materials are used to help prevent premature spoilage;</li></ul><ul><li>Some
products are frozen if not used on the day;</li></ul><ul><li>Products which show high
levels of wastage are changed (for example, some high frequency/low volume lines are
now frozen which enables portion control);</li></ul><ul><li>Any hot food which is
re-usable is transferred immediately to where it can be sold (or blast chilled within
food safety requirements and used the following day).<br></li></ul><p><br>The Sustainable
Restaurant Association has rated the House of Commons as a good practice organisation
in respect of food waste.</p>
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