The Energy and the Protein Content of Edible 



Food Waste and Mixed Meals in Sorority 



and Fraternity Houses 



Bj- Francis G. Benedict, Director of the Nutrition Laboratoiy of the 



Carnegie Institution of Washington, Boston, Massachusetts, 



and A. Gertrude Farr, formerly Research Assistant 



in Nutrition, New Hampshire Agricultural 



Experiment Station. 



The earliest method of studying the food needs of a group of indi- 

 viduals was to determine the energy content of the total food purchased 

 during a given period, with due correction for the energy value of the 

 wasted food. The caloric value of the food was determined indirectly 

 by computation from standard tables or directly by sampling and anal- 

 ysis, usually chemical. It is relatively easy to compute the total ca- 

 loric value of 100 pounds of flour or a given weight of corn meal or 

 rice, but extremely difficult to estimate from standard tables the fuel 

 value of a mixed meal of vegetables and meat, particularly when cooked, 

 since the standard tables deal very seldom with cooked foods. The ac- 

 curate sampling, weighing, and analysis of each of the food matei'ials 

 consumed by a group likewise necessitate a great deal of labor, and the 

 problem of how to handle the wasted food is most perplexing. Another 

 method has been to place in a container at each mealtime an amount 

 of food equivalent to that eaten by the average person in a group, so 

 that at the end of a given time the total food thus accumulated would 

 be representative of that supplied to each individual. An aliquot sample 

 of this mixture is then analyzed, but from the total energy content as 

 thus determined must be deducted the caloric value of the food left un- 

 eaten on the plate at each meal. This second method of study has an 

 advantage o\er the first in that all kitchen refuse, which enters into the 

 calculated energy value of the food purchased, is thus eliminated and 

 only the food as served is taken into consideration. In general the food 

 as sei-ved represents the edible portion of the food, although not infre- 

 quently some meats and vegetables, such as corn on the cob and aspar- 

 agus, must necessarily be ser\-ed with certain parts that cannot be eaten 

 and for which allowance must be made in any energy calculations. 



No one problem has troubled students of dietetics more than the 

 accurate measurement and the analysis of waste foods. Few studies of 

 waste have been reported, but it is apparent from what few have been 



