Grants awarded for food loss, waste studies

URBANA, Ill. — A University of Illinois project evaluating liquid dairy waste in childcare centers was among 14 grant recipients through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program.

SARE is leading a national Community Foods Project Food Loss and Waste Training and Technical Assistance Grants Program, funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. A total of $8 million is being provided to 14 organizations across the nation.

U of I’s project, SmartServe: Evaluating Liquid Dairy Waste Reduction Strategies in Child Care Centers in Illinois, was awarded a $415,211 grant. The research is led by Saima Hasnin, U of I nutritional sciences assistant professor.

More than 66% of U.S. preschoolers attend a childcare setting daily, and up to 40% of the milk served there is wasted.

The proposed study aims to estimate and reduce preschoolers’ milk waste in childcare centers in Illinois that participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

“We are going to be developing a tool kit for childcare providers that will help them to reduce food waste in childcare centers while also not pressuring the children to finish their foods off of their plate,” Hasnin stated in the proposal.

“The CACFP is a federal nutrition program that reimburses childcare providers for serving healthy meals and snacks to children. The CACFP requires participating childcare providers to serve milk at breakfast and lunch. They also encourage the providers to serve milk at afternoon snack time.

“I’m trying to look at if we can make a small change where the providers can serve water during lunch and then serve milk at breakfast and afternoon snack to see if that reduces or has any effect on the children’s milk consumption plus the milk waste.”

The SARE program supports projects that align with the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waster and Recycling Organics, released in June 2024.

The program prioritizes preventing food from becoming waste, diverting edible food to people through donation or up-cycling and feeding animals.

The goals of the Food Loss and Waste Training and Technical Assistance Grants Program are to:

• Increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for their own food needs.

• Promote comprehensive responses to local food access, farm and nutrition issues.

• Identify strategies for reducing food loss and waste by identifying value-added production opportunities.

• Meet specific state, local, or neighborhood food and agriculture needs for planning for long-term solutions.

• Create innovative marketing activities that mutually benefit agricultural stakeholders and consumers.

• Describe how the research or training and technical assistance will lead to improved quality of life for producers, communities and consumers.

Fourteen organizations have been awarded funding to both reduce food loss and waste and educate a variety of audiences about their reduction techniques.

These organizations are diverse in size, geographic location and in their focus on one or more parts of the food supply chain.