SmartServe: Evaluating Liquid Dairy Waste Reduction Strategies in Child Care Centers in Illinois

Commodities

• Animal Products: dairy

Practices

• Sustainable Communities: food loss and waste recovery/reduction, food sovereignty

More than 66% of U.S. preschool children attend childcare daily and consume up to three meals and snacks in these settings. However, up to 40% of liquid dairy (milk) served is wasted and discarded through wastewater in childcare settings. Milk waste has financial implication for childcare settings and has detrimental effects on the environment due to the associated carbon footprint. Hence, the proposed study aims to offer developmentally appropriate strategies to reduce preschool children’s milk waste in licensed Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)-participating childcare centers in Illinois, aligning with the prevent wasted food strategy on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wasted food cycle.

The study has five objectives divided into three phases:

-Objective 1 (Phase 1) Develop the SmartServe toolkit to educate childcare center providers about food waste and provide them with strategies to reduce food waste in childcare centers.

-Objective 2 (Phase 2) Pilot test the SmartServe toolkit to determine feasibility in 
childcare centers.

-Objective 3 (Phase 3) Assess baseline milk waste in 21 licensed CACFP-participating childcare centers.

-Objective 4 (Phase 3) Assess the effectiveness of SmartServe intervention on total milk wasted by 3-5-year-old children (n = 210) in CACFP-participating licensed childcare centers.

-Objective 5 (Phase 3) Assess the effectiveness of SmartServe intervention on childcare providers’ (n = 63) knowledge and self-efficacy to reduce food waste.

The SmartServe intervention combines an education toolkit for childcare providers with an alternative milk serving strategy, where milk will be served during breakfast and snacks and not at lunch in childcare settings. The SmartServe toolkit will be developed using community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods. The toolkit will be based on interdisciplinary science, including developmentally appropriate strategies for reducing preschool children’s food waste without using pressure or controlling feeding practices.

At Phase 2, two childcare center providers will be invited for qualitative interviews using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) for feedback on appropriateness and feasibility of the materials during pilot testing the SmartServe toolkit to address Objective 2.

At Phase 3 to address Objectives 3, 4, and 5, the full SmartServe intervention will be implemented, including the toolkit and alternative milk serving strategy, at 21 childcare centers in Champaign and Macon Counties in Illinois. Phase 3 will be a within-subjects crossover design with repeated-measures of child-level milk waste data collection, using the USDA plate waste measuring protocol for six non-consecutive days over four weeks. Providers’ knowledge and self-efficacy will be assessed using an online survey and their feedback about the full intervention will be collected using a focus-group interview. After the study, the toolkit will be finalized and made available to download on the Illinois Extension website. Website metrics will be collected to assess the longitudinal reach of the program components.  Additional dissemination would include training for childcare providers through the Extension network.

 The objectives and hypotheses for this study are:

• Objective 1.
  Develop and adapt the SmartServe toolkit to educate childcare center providers about food waste and strategies to reduce food waste in childcare centers. 

• Objective 2.
  Determine the appropriateness and feasibility of the SmartServe toolkit in two licensed childcare centers.  

• Objective 3.
  Assess baseline milk waste in licensed CACFP-participating childcare centers (n=21). 

• • Hypothesis
    3.1. At least 29% of the milk served will be wasted at baseline (based on literature review).  

• Objective 4.
  Assess the effectiveness of SmartServe intervention on total milk waste in CACFP-participating licensed childcare centers (n = 21).  

• • Hypothesis 4.1.
    The SmartServe intervention will reduce the amount of milk wasted compared to the baseline. 

• • Hypothesis 4.2.
    After the SmartServe intervention, children’s (n=210) total milk consumption per day will be maintained or increased compared to the baseline.

• Objective 5.
  Assess the effectiveness of the SmartServe toolkit on childcare providers’ (n=63) knowledge and self-efficacy to reduce food waste, while not using controlling child feeding practices.
   

• • Hypothesis 5.1.
    The SmartServe intervention will increase providers’ knowledge and self-efficacy to reduce food waste in their childcare center compared to their baseline knowledge and self-efficacy.