IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i22p9873-d1519412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Associated with Food Waste Among University Students in Colombia

Author

Listed:
  • Edna Magaly Gamboa-Delgado

    (Escuela de Nutrición y Dietética, Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), Bucaramanga 680001, Colombia)

  • Oscar F. Herrán

    (Escuela de Nutrición y Dietética, Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), Bucaramanga 680001, Colombia)

  • Doris Cristina Quintero-Lesmes

    (Centro de Investigaciones, Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia, Floridablanca 681004, Colombia)

Abstract

(1) Background: Globally, millions of tons of food are wasted annually, with a significant portion occurring at the household level. This study aimed to quantify food waste generated by university students and identify key factors associated with this behavior. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a community trial involving 227 Colombian university students. Participants self-reported their daily food waste (grams per person per day), as categorized by food type, which was collected through an online-based questionnaire under prior training. The data were analyzed using a binomial regression model to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios (PRaj) and identify associations between food waste and demographic variables. (3) Results: Of the participants, 63% were women, with a mean age of 20.4 ± 3.8 years. Overall, 65% (n = 148) reported food wastage. The average food waste per person per day was 22.6 ± 15.5 g, increasing to 94.0 ± 5.0 g among those who reported wastage. Significant associations were found between food waste and several factors: Among those with a higher prevalence of food waste were women (PRaj = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.89); students from rural areas (PRaj = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.67); and those with higher income levels, with adjusted prevalence ratios of 1.38 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.68) for those earning 1–2 Minimum Legal Monthly Wages (LMMW) and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.15, 1.93) for those earning 3+ LMMW. Household size and socioeconomic status were not significantly associated with food waste ( p > 0.05). (4) Conclusions: On average, the population generates 8.25 kg of food waste per person per year, rising to 34.31 kg among those who report wasting food. Gender, geographic location, and income were key predictors of daily food waste.

Suggested Citation

  • Edna Magaly Gamboa-Delgado & Oscar F. Herrán & Doris Cristina Quintero-Lesmes, 2024. "Factors Associated with Food Waste Among University Students in Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:22:p:9873-:d:1519412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/22/9873/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/22/9873/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz & Vera Amicarelli & Grzegorz Chrobak & Agnieszka Górka-Chowaniec & Christian Bux, 2024. "Do Living Arrangements and Eating Habits Influence University Students’ Food Waste Perception in Italy and Poland?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lorenzo Stacchini & Daniele Nucci & Nicoletta Romano & Maria Villa & Chiara Passeri & Roberta Ferranti & Vincenza Gianfredi, 2024. "Association Between Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Household Food Waste Behaviors Among University Students in Italy: The UniFoodWaste Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-14, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:22:p:9873-:d:1519412. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.