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

Commodities

Practices

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

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.