In accordance with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation – particularly the Laws of Ukraine On Quality and Safety of Food Products and Food Raw Materials, On Waste Management, On Environmental Protection, On Consumer Protection, and On Ensuring Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of Population – the Food Safety Management System (FSMS) has been enacted at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
The structural subdivisions of the Student Catering Centre (SCC) – cafeterias located in Buildings 1 and 31 serving students and staff, and a cafeteria in Building 32 serving cadets – have introduced a system for monitoring and managing food waste in line with FSMS provisions.
Food waste management represents a critical control point of the FSMS, which ensures compliance with high food safety standards. By law, food waste is categorised as bio-waste – that is, waste subject to anaerobic or aerobic decomposition (food waste, food industry waste, etc.).
The most typical for SCC’s operations is the category of food industry waste generated during the primary processing of food products, in accordance with established flow charts. In line with the FSMS principle of “from farm to table,” the quality of raw products, their storage, and processing have a direct impact on the level of waste and the quality of a final product. Therefore, a reduction in food waste is achieved through compliance with established technological standards, rules of primary processing, and sanitary standards.
According to the results of in-house monitoring at the Student Catering Centre in 2024, the following volume of food waste generated during the processing of food raw products was recorded:
Table 1: Record of monitoring food waste at the SCC in 2024 (tonnes)
| No. | Food Item | Unit of Measurement | Volume (t) |
| 1 | Potatoes | t | 12.236 |
| 2 | Cabbage | t | 4.283 |
| 3 | Beet | t | 1.390 |
| 4 | Carrots | t | 1.919 |
| 5 | Onions | t | 1.229 |
| 6 | Cucumbers | t | 0.052 |
| 7 | Tomatoes | t | 0.094 |
| Total | 21.203 |
All food industry waste is disposed of promptly under a contract between the SCC and the University's transport enterprise. This procedure ensures compliance with FSMS requirements, sanitary standards and regulations, while contributing to efficient environmental management.
Establishing control over food waste is one of the priorities of work done by the Student Catering Centre staff to ensure the quality and safety of nutrition, and to promote the sustainable development of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.