2023 Food Waste Solutions Summit
May 16-18, 2023 | St.Louis, MO
Dr. Sara Elnakib
Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Family & Community Health Sciences
Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Rutgers University
Bio:
Dr. Sara Elnakib is an Educator/Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Family & Community Health Sciences at Rutgers Cooperative Extension. Her research focuses on the use of policy, systems, and environmental approaches to promote child health equity and environmental stewardship, primarily in school and community settings. Sara has received research funding from the USDA, EPA, NJDEP and Horizon Foundation to research the intersection of nutrition literacy, environmental education, and healthy eating. Her dissertation focused on food waste in the school setting and how behavioral economics can be leveraged to reduce food waste. She completed her doctoral degree in Social and Behavioral Health Science at Rutgers School of Public Health. Sara is also a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), has a Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree in Health Education and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and completed her undergraduate degree in Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University.
Schedule
Thursday, May 18th
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Insights from the Cafeteria: Food Waste in Schools and Strategies to Reduce It
Breakout Session (Running Concurrently)
Schools provide an ideal learning environment to teach better food conservation habits to the next generation. Most importantly, increasing consumption and reducing wasted food means children receive optimal nutritional benefits from school meals. How can we instruct and instill better habits from the halls of the classroom to the cafeteria? This session will cover how a combination of strategies and interventions — like marketing healthy choices, providing nutrition education, and offering cooking and gardening programs for students — effectively work in unison to increase student consumption.