What does princess do with all that food?

[MTJSR]

Just curious, what does Princess do with all the left over food from each and every venue onboard? Freeze it and donate it to charity? feed the fish? Crew?

[upwarduk]

Just curious, what does Princess do with all the left over food from each and every venue onboard? Freeze it and donate it to charity? feed the fish? Crew?

 

Make soups?

[chengkp75]

It goes to the poor crew member assigned to the main "pulper" (centralized garbage disposal) who works all night long, where it is ground up and pumped overboard. Once food has left "temperature control" (meaning an oven, warming box, or refrigerator where temperature can be guaranteed), it falls under "time control", and must be discarded after 4 hours, no matter what, and cannot be returned to "temperature control". So, items on steam tables, like in the buffet or in the plating area of the MDR, which are not temperature control areas, must be discarded. You may see colored dots on the pans of items in the buffet, these are time control labels, and show when the item needs to be discarded.

 

There are strict limitations on trying to land food for charities, and again, this comes about because of time/temperature controls. USPH rules would apply to the food until it left the ship, so freezing is not an option (returning to temperature control). Heck, in Hawaii, we even tried to land the ground up food waste for pig food, but since we could not verify that all the food waste was cooked, and we didn't sterilize the waste, it could not be used to reintroduce into the human food chain. This is actually done in Vegas, where a pig farmer gets food waste from the casinos, has a huge sterilizer tower, and then can use it as feed.

[xlxo]

I assume what isn't cooked, or hasn't been served to the public, can be salvaged for the crew's meals.

 

We do this at work. When there's excess food at corporate meetings.... it's left in the reception area for staff. An email goes out and within minutes the piranhas have it polished off. If it's real good.... I may just lick the plates.

 

I hate seeing excess food going to waste.

[chengkp75]

I assume what isn't cooked, or hasn't been served to the public, can be salvaged for the crew's meals.

 

We do this at work. When there's excess food at corporate meetings.... it's left in the reception area for staff. An email goes out and within minutes the piranhas have it polished off. If it's real good.... I may just lick the plates.

 

I hate seeing excess food going to waste.

 

Not really. The cruise lines are really very good about gauging how much of each item needs to be produced each meal, using historical trends, so wastage is minimized as much as possible. Non-"potentially hazardous foods", like breads and raw fruits and vegetables, can be returned to the galley for reuse, though breads usually don't last past the current day due to "staleness" as they are baked without preservatives onboard. All potentially hazardous foods that are uncooked (primarily this would be "animal products" and cut melons) but that have been removed from temperature control cannot be reused.

 

Since the crew galleys can't count on "leftovers", they must prepare enough food to feed the crew without it. Crew have fixed dining hours, and food consumption outside those hours is limited, and most crew are restricted as to areas where they are allowed, even in crew areas (i.e. cabin stewards are not to be in galleys), so you couldn't have a "free buffet".

[Pam in CA]

Great question and interesting answer. Princess is redesigning buffets to have more stations which I assume reduces food waste as well as makes it easier for passengers to maneuver around the buffet area. It's also one of the reasons why the buffet is no longer open all night.

[JF - retired RRT]

I believe you Cheng, but it sure does seem like a food item that appeared on the steam tables one day in the buffet appears the next day in soups or other "mish mash" dishes.

[SadieN]

I believe you Cheng, but it sure does seem like a food item that appeared on the steam tables one day in the buffet appears the next day in soups or other "mish mash" dishes.

 

 

Planned leftovers.

[floridalover5623]

As chengkp75 posted, ALL the food is timed once it hits the buffet line and when the clock times out the food is disposed of. No leftovers to be reused, nothing is given to the crew as extra. It's dumped.

Seems like a shame and I'm sure it must sicken some of crew seeing it every day but that's the way they're forced to operate.

I'm not sure if it applies to baked goods or not.

[Loonbeam]

I remember from a galley tour that certain prepped but not used items can be used in other preparations (for example, carrots chopped for a salad and not plated might be used in a soup the next day.

 

But basically cooked unused food = sea paste.

[chengkp75]

I believe you Cheng, but it sure does seem like a food item that appeared on the steam tables one day in the buffet appears the next day in soups or other "mish mash" dishes.

 

As chengkp75 posted, ALL the food is timed once it hits the buffet line and when the clock times out the food is disposed of. No leftovers to be reused, nothing is given to the crew as extra. It's dumped.

Seems like a shame and I'm sure it must sicken some of crew seeing it every day but that's the way they're forced to operate.

I'm not sure if it applies to baked goods or not.

 

If, for example, a dish has been placed in a steam table tray for the buffet, and it is kept in a warming box at 142*F, waiting to be used, and is then not used when the buffet closes, it is still under temperature control, it could be chilled in the blast chillers to 34*F within 6 hours (since it is in a steam table pan, which is fairly shallow, it should chill faster than that, 6 hours is the maximum from 145-34*F), and placed back in the walk-ins for possible use the next day. A roast beef that never left the warming box because of low demand, can be chilled as above and returned to the walk-in box for tomorrow's beef soup. If you go behind the buffet line, into the galley, there will always be a row of warming boxes that can each handle 10-12 full sized steam table pans, which were filled in the main galley, and brought up and plugged in to maintain temperature control. this is where they get the next pan of food when it runs out on the line. So, if you are seeing "left overs" the next day, the staff is not doing their job in portion planning, and are prepping too much of that item. But anything that has gone onto the steam table line, is under time control. As I said, even in the MDR galley, where they plate the entrees, things are kept in steam tables, so this has to go at end of meal service as well. So, while "leftovers" are kept to a minimum, some food can be re-utilized, if it never left temperature control.

 

The whole time/temperature control thing has to do with "potentially hazardous foods", which like cooked meats, must be kept at 145*F or above until served or it could start to grow bacteria. Baked goods are generally not considered potentially hazardous food, since it commonly stays out on store shelves, etc, without refrigeration. The baked goods, though, as I said, tend to be tossed because they don't want complaints that it doesn't feel fresh baked.

[framer]

Have you ever had their meatloaf on the last night of a cruise?

 

framer

[MTJSR]

Have you ever had their meatloaf on the last night of a cruise?

 

framer

 

You mean the one that tastes exactly like carrot and clam taco's? :D

Edited March 22, 2017 by MTJSR

[floridalover5623]

Have you ever had their meatloaf on the last night of a cruise?

 

framer

Never had the gumption to test a piece but it looks like something made from leftover ground up items.

They should really learn what American meat loaf is suppose to look like and maybe more people would sample it.;p

[casofilia]

NCL state that all food stuffs that are surplus are "pelletised" and few to the fish when the ship is outside territorial waters. I presume that Princess would be the same.

[Cruise Raider]

You mean the one that tastes exactly like carrot and clam taco's? :D

 

You made me laugh my head off with this one.

[keithm]

Just curious, what does Princess do with all the left over food from each and every venue onboard? Freeze it and donate it to charity? feed the fish? Crew?

Basically it is "slurried" & pumped out into the ocean, so yes, it does feed the fish.

[lovevacadays]

have you ever had their meatloaf on the last night of a cruise?

 

Framer

 

lol.

[riclop]

You want it???

[easyboy]

Just curious, what does Princess do with all the left over food from each and every venue onboard? Freeze it and donate it to charity? feed the fish? Crew?

I once asked the Sous Chef at the HC and he said they just dispose it. So Cheng kp confirms it.

[SoCalTraveler]

Just curious, what does Princess do with all the left over food from each and every venue onboard? Freeze it and donate it to charity? feed the fish? Crew?

 

Take the behind the sees tour. They will tell you. Basically, it is chopped up and fed to the fish a certain number of miles from shore.

[chengkp75]

The "pulper" systems use either a large disposal grinder at each dish station with a separate water system that circulates from a central tank up to all the grinders (15 or so) and back to carry the ground food down, or a vacuum system that takes the food waste to central grinders. Both systems will circulate water to form a slurry to transport the food waste to a tank where a large auger screw with a filter screen will separate the food waste from the water. The water is recirculated in the system (changed out daily), and the food waste is carried by the auger screw to a storage tank. At this point, the food waste has the appearance of oatmeal. This can then either be fed to the incinerator and burned, or pumped overboard when outside 20 nm from shore and is indeed fish food.

 

Most of the pulpers will be shut down when the dining venues shut down for the night, but there will always be one down by the food prep rooms or garbage rooms, where the trash cans of leftovers will be brought. Then one poor soul spends the night feeding this pulper using a coal shovel, until all the food is gone.

[mrs and mrs]

It is true, the fish enjoy their own special nights.Night 1 Ministrone. (2) Chicken and vegetable. (3) Fish soup, (not very popular)

(4) Chunks of meatloaf.

THINK ABOUT IT.

[floridalover5623]

I once asked the Sous Chef at the HC and he said they just dispose it. So Cheng kp confirms it.

 

A Sous Chef on the Royal told me the same with a disgusted look on his face.

[kruisey]

I have seen items from dinner on lunch menu the next day