Plate WasteNCT02790502
OSU Plate Waste Study
A study testing Food Photography Application© in people with Plate Waste, run by Pennington Biomedical Research Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Globally, about one-third of edible food is lost or wasted 1. Wasted food depletes resources used to produce the food (as a matter of definition, "produce" includes all activities to distribute, package and prepare food for human consumption at any venue, but does not include growing, transporting and processing)… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 72 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Plate Waste
- What is being tested?
- Food Photography Application©
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 18 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Apr 2016to 31 Mar 2017
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 72 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- In order to participate in this study a candidate must:
- Be able to consent
- Be within an age range of 18-72 years, inclusive
- Have a body mass index of 18.5 - 50 kg/m2
- Have an iPhone, and be willing to use it to capture photos via an app (participants must acknowledge that cellular data will be used during the course of the project)
- Be willing to use an iPhone app (SmartIntake) and a pen-and-paper food dairy during the food intake meal and for up to five days in free-living conditions.
Who cannot join
- In order to participate in this study, the candidate must not:
- Be pregnant, assessed by self-report (this is not a safety issue and study data will not be compromised if 1-3 pregnant women enroll)
- Be planning to become pregnant while enrolled in the study
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70808
About this study
Official title: InFACT Seed Proposal: Ohio State University Food Waste Collaborative
Globally, about one-third of edible food is lost or wasted 1. Wasted food depletes resources used to produce the food (as a matter of definition, "produce" includes all activities to distribute, package and prepare food for human consumption at any venue, but does not include growing, transporting and processing), deprives hungry people from needed nutrition and represents the most common (>20%) and most environmentally deleterious component (in terms of greenhouse gas) of US landfills3-6. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) identified reducing FW as a key to increasing global food security (OECD 2011) 7. The Obama Administration recently announced a first ever FW reduction goal for the United States of 50% by 2030. USDA and EPA will pursue this goal via partnerships with the private sector, charitable and faith-based organizations, as well as state, local and tribal governments.
In developed economies, consumers are the largest source of FW via home preparation and dining out2, 8. In order to achieve FW goals, we must anticipate how consumer FW generation and handling decisions will respond to proposed policies and interventions. However, there exist substantial barriers to measuring consumer FW: existing methods have high respondent burden and yield biased measurements of FW generation9-11. In this project we will test a smartphone application (app) for measuring household FW.
Read the detailed description
The objective of this project is to pilot test the Remote Food Photography Method (RFPM) and SmartIntake smartphone app as an approach for measuring food waste in controlled and free-living environments. The RFPM and SmartIntakeTM app constitutes a distinct improvement over self-report FI methods, such as pen-and-paper surveys and dietary recall methods that rely on subjects' ability to accurately recall the types and portion sizes of foods consumed. After training, people use the SmartIntakeTM app to capture images of their foods both before and after each eating occasion. Photos are automatically uploaded from the user's smartphone to a secure server at Pennington Biomedical. The images are analyzed to quantify food selection, food waste, and food intake using validated methods and a computer program (the Food Photography Application©) built by Pennington Biomedical. The method has been found to accurately quantify food selection, food waste, and food intake.
Importantly, the RFPM and SmartIntakeTM app eliminate one of the largest sources of error associated with self-report methods - subjects' inability to accurately estimate portion size, which accounts for ~50% of the error in self-report methods11, 13-15. FI estimation studies have observed that overweight subjects react to monitoring by underestimating the self-reported amounts of FI or eat less when monitored16, 17. Similarly, FW behavioral studies have observed that subjects start self-reporting smaller amounts of FW, however it is not clear if this is the result of increased awareness and less generation, or if it due to not appearing as wasteful individuals18. However, people respond less to the RFPM/SmartIntake app and experiment results show that the underestimation from RFPM does not vary with energy intake level12.
Many shortcomings that plague FI measurement likely hamper FW measurement. Biases in the opposite direction (e.g., cleaning your plate to show less FW) likely emerge when measuring FW and may be similarly mitigated with the proposed app. We believe using RFPM and SmartIntakeTM app as the base for a FW estimation app holds great promise to transform FW measurement. First, we note that FW associated with dining situations (i.e., plate waste) is directly estimated by the RFPM, hence only a simple transform of current outputs is required. To fully adapt RFPM for FW measurement, the procedures will be modified to estimate FW created during food preparation and during stored food purges (e.g., cleaning the fridge). The RFPM method already works in dine-out settings, which are currently omitted by some existing FW measurement methods. Additional functionality, such as estimating edible vs inedible FW (and hence calories wasted), estimating waste rate among food categories, and estimating rates of diversion from landfills, will also be explored so that multiple policy relevant metrics can be instantly calculated and stored.
- Conditions
- Plate Waste
- Being tested
- Food Photography Application©
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Food Photography Application©Device
Group testing RFPM as method of recording plate waste
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention | Other | Intervention Group Receives: Device: Food Photography Application© |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Percent of Food Items Across All Participants That Were Not Fully Eaten Over Approximately 1 Week and That Were Not Kept as a Leftover for Subsequent Consumption.
Food waste was assessed using the Remote Food Photography Method (RFPM) over approximately 1 week. The outcome is the percent of food items across all participants that were not fully consumed during this time and that were not saved for later consumption as a leftover. No measure of dispersion or precision is possible since the value simply reflects a percent of all items across all participants.
Measured: 1 week
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted6 Jun 2016 (estimated)
- Study start1 Apr 2016
- Primary completion20 Nov 2016
- Study completion31 Mar 2017
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for Plate WasteStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 18 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Ohio State University
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Corby K. Martin, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02790502
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- PBRC 2016-043
- Status last verified
- Dec 2024
- First submitted
- 31 May 2016
- Last updated
- 1 Jan 2025
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 1 Jan 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- InFACT Seed Proposal: Ohio State University Food Waste Collaborative
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02790502
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- PBRC 2016-043
- Conditions
- Plate Waste
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 18 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Pennington Biomedical Research CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Ohio State University
- Study start
- 1 Apr 2016 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 20 Nov 2016 (actual)
- Study completion
- 31 Mar 2017 (actual)
- First posted
- 6 Jun 2016 (estimated)
- Results
- Posted 1 Jan 2025
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Globally, about one-third of edible food is lost or wasted 1. Wasted food depletes resources used to produce the food (as a matter of definition, "produce" includes all activities to distribute, package and prepare food for human consumption at any venue, but does not include growing, transporting and processing), deprives hungry people from needed nutrition and represents the most common (>20%) and most environmentally deleterious component (in terms of greenhouse gas) of US landfills3-6. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) identified reducing FW as a key to increasing global food security (OECD 2011) 7. The Obama Administration recently announced a first ever FW reduction goal for the United States of 50% by 2030. USDA and EPA will pursue this goal via partnerships with the private sector, charitable and faith-based organizations, as well as state, local and tribal governments.
In developed economies, consumers are the largest source of FW via home preparation and dining out2, 8. In order to achieve FW goals, we must anticipate how consumer FW generation and handling decisions will respond to proposed policies and interventions. However, there exist substantial barriers to measuring consumer FW: existing methods have high respondent burden and yield biased measurements of FW generation9-11. In this project we will test a smartphone application (app) for measuring household FW.
Detailed description
The objective of this project is to pilot test the Remote Food Photography Method (RFPM) and SmartIntake smartphone app as an approach for measuring food waste in controlled and free-living environments. The RFPM and SmartIntakeTM app constitutes a distinct improvement over self-report FI methods, such as pen-and-paper surveys and dietary recall methods that rely on subjects' ability to accurately recall the types and portion sizes of foods consumed. After training, people use the SmartIntakeTM app to capture images of their foods both before and after each eating occasion. Photos are automatically uploaded from the user's smartphone to a secure server at Pennington Biomedical. The images are analyzed to quantify food selection, food waste, and food intake using validated methods and a computer program (the Food Photography Application©) built by Pennington Biomedical. The method has been found to accurately quantify food selection, food waste, and food intake.
Importantly, the RFPM and SmartIntakeTM app eliminate one of the largest sources of error associated with self-report methods - subjects' inability to accurately estimate portion size, which accounts for ~50% of the error in self-report methods11, 13-15. FI estimation studies have observed that overweight subjects react to monitoring by underestimating the self-reported amounts of FI or eat less when monitored16, 17. Similarly, FW behavioral studies have observed that subjects start self-reporting smaller amounts of FW, however it is not clear if this is the result of increased awareness and less generation, or if it due to not appearing as wasteful individuals18. However, people respond less to the RFPM/SmartIntake app and experiment results show that the underestimation from RFPM does not vary with energy intake level12.
Many shortcomings that plague FI measurement likely hamper FW measurement. Biases in the opposite direction (e.g., cleaning your plate to show less FW) likely emerge when measuring FW and may be similarly mitigated with the proposed app. We believe using RFPM and SmartIntakeTM app as the base for a FW estimation app holds great promise to transform FW measurement. First, we note that FW associated with dining situations (i.e., plate waste) is directly estimated by the RFPM, hence only a simple transform of current outputs is required. To fully adapt RFPM for FW measurement, the procedures will be modified to estimate FW created during food preparation and during stored food purges (e.g., cleaning the fridge). The RFPM method already works in dine-out settings, which are currently omitted by some existing FW measurement methods. Additional functionality, such as estimating edible vs inedible FW (and hence calories wasted), estimating waste rate among food categories, and estimating rates of diversion from landfills, will also be explored so that multiple policy relevant metrics can be instantly calculated and stored.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention | Other | Device: Food Photography Application©Intervention Group |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 72 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Be able to consent
- Be within an age range of 18-72 years, inclusive
- Have a body mass index of 18.5 - 50 kg/m2
- Have an iPhone, and be willing to use it to capture photos via an app (participants must acknowledge that cellular data will be used during the course of the project)
- Be willing to use an iPhone app (SmartIntake) and a pen-and-paper food dairy during the food intake meal and for up to five days in free-living conditions.
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Be pregnant, assessed by self-report (this is not a safety issue and study data will not be compromised if 1-3 pregnant women enroll)
- Be planning to become pregnant while enrolled in the study
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Food Photography Application©Group testing RFPM as method of recording plate waste | Device | Intervention |
Primary outcome
Percent of Food Items Across All Participants That Were Not Fully Eaten Over Approximately 1 Week and That Were Not Kept as a Leftover for Subsequent Consumption.
Time frame: 1 week
Food waste was assessed using the Remote Food Photography Method (RFPM) over approximately 1 week. The outcome is the percent of food items across all participants that were not fully consumed during this time and that were not saved for later consumption as a leftover. No measure of dispersion or precision is possible since the value simply reflects a percent of all items across all participants.
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 1 Jan 2025.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Food Photography Application© in people with Plate Waste, run by Pennington Biomedical Research Center at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 6 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 1 Jan 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 1 Jan 2025). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Percent of Food Items Across All Participants That Were Not Fully Eaten Over Approximately 1 Week and That Were Not Kept as a Leftover for Subsequent Consumption. (time frame: 1 week). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 1 Jan 2025.