Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate how people in North and South American and European countries manage food leftovers in their households.
Methods: Surveys were conducted in Argentina, Colombia, United States (USA), Estonia, Italy, Russia and Spain, with about 100 consumers in each country. Participants responded to questions related to issues such as length of time various types of food leftovers can be left refrigerated before spoilage; length of time that food is left to sit at room temperature before refrigeration, and storage conduct in relation to use of different containers.
Results: Most participants from each of countries indicated that they frequently saved food leftovers in containers different from the ones in which foods were originally prepared. Estonian participants often left the leftovers at room temperature for longer periods of time before refrigerating than Italian, Russian and Spanish participants. Age, education, and income were found to influence on how long some participants would let the food leftovers sit at room temperature. For example, people over 35 years old stored leftovers within 1 hour while participants under 35 had more varied results for letting leftovers sit out before storage. Gender was the influencing factor on how Colombian consumers stored food leftovers, i.e., females preferred containers specifically for leftovers while men used various containers.
Significance: These findings allowed identification of food leftovers handling and storing practices, as well as addressed issues such as food contamination which will allow tailing of food safety educational programs that can raise consumer awareness of proper food storage and foodborne illness.