Abstract
Objective
To examine the association between self-reported food skills and diet quality along
with measured food waste among a sample of Canadian parents.
Design
Cross-sectional data from surveys to assess food skills, 3-day food records to assess
the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015, and food waste measured by household waste audits.
Setting
Guelph-Wellington, Ontario.
Participants
Parents (n = 130) with children aged 2–8 years.
Main Outcome Measures
HEI-2015 scores, daily per capita avoidable and unavoidable food waste (grams).
Analysis
Linear regression using generalized estimating equations to determine unstandardized
β estimates of associations between food skills and dependent variables. Models were
adjusted for multiple testing, gender, and level of education.
Results
Food safety knowledge for cooking hot foods (β = 4.3, P = 0.05), planning (β = 4.5, P = 0.001), and conceptualizing food (β = 4.0, P = 0.03) were positively associated with HEI-2015 scores. Knowledge related to best
before dates (β = 25.3, P = 0.05; β = 12.1, P = 0.04), conceptualizing food (β = 34.1, P = 0.01; β = 13.8, P = 0.02), and mechanical techniques (β = 39.2, P = 0.01; β = 20.5, P = 0.004) were associated with more avoidable and unavoidable food waste, respectively.
Conclusions and Implications
Addressing higher-level food skills with a focus on efficient food preparation practices
that make use of all edible portions of foods could play an important role in minimizing
food waste and improving diet quality. Additional research in other countries and
in a larger, more socioeconomically diverse sample is needed to confirm these findings.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 29, 2021
Accepted:
October 24,
2020
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
