In May 2024, UKC Maribor / University Medical Centre Maribor hosted FDQ partners GS1, Netcompany-Intrasoft and Syreon Research Institute at the University Medical Centre Maribor for the kick-off meeting of the Use Case: “Reimagining food services in hospitals and elderly care homes promoting health and sustainability.”

As part of the different activities, partners had informative sessions on data-driven solutions for enhancing food system efficiency and sustainability, and collaborative discussions on leveraging data to drive the transition towards healthy diets. Additionally, they had the opportunity to visit the hospital kitchen where they had a comprehensive tour of the facilities and were presented the process of operation of the food chain at the University Medical Center Maribor

Some of the key outcomes of this initial meeting were an enhanced understanding of hospital food system complexities, the development of a framework for private data sharing led, inspiration and motivation from the possibilities of data access and analysis, and a strong foundation for ongoing collaboration aimed at promoting health and sustainability in food services.

This FoodDataQuest use case has the objective of enhancing patient health while simultaneously reducing food waste in hospitals and home care facilities through the deployment of a comprehensive monitoring system. It aims to integrate various data sources available within these healthcare settings, including inventory, environmental, supply chain, food waste, nutrition, patient health records, public health, home health monitoring devices, and menu data. By leveraging these diverse data streams, the initiative seeks to offer actionable insights for diminishing food waste and ensuring that patient diets are both nutritious and tailored to individual health needs.

Overall, the meeting was a significant step forward in reimagining food services in hospitals and elderly care homes, promoting health, sustainability, and efficiency through innovative data-driven solutions.