Donations of leftovers by restaurants to food pantries and other human service agencies are declining markedly as restaurants become better managed, according to a study by Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

In a survey of the nation's 133 food-donation programs, researchers found that 87 percent report seeing "smaller and smaller donations from one year to the next" which, researchers contend, could seriously affect the operations of food-donation programs.

The study, published in the April 1997 issue of Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, also found that half of the respondents had little or no knowledge of the trends affecting food-donation programs.

The drop in food donations from restaurants comes as a result of tighter food-handling policies and better food and beverage management operations, researchers say.

"In the restaurant business, waste is a bad thing," said study author Mary H. Tabacchi, associate professor of food and beverage management at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. "Managers are under the gun to curtail waste. If one reports food donations, corporate headquarters will likely question why one can't do a better job of controlling the waste. So what has happened is that managers have found better ways to recycle and reuse food; this, along with advances in food packaging and new technology, has helped managers eliminate waste."

Recycling and reusing food products is now quite commonplace in the industry, especially since it helps to drastically reduce waste. Researchers noted that in 1992, for example, Kentucky Fried Chicken donated over 100,000 pounds of chicken to local food banks. A year later when the chain reused the chicken in various new menu items, such as a shredded barbecue sandwich, the volume of food donations dropped to zero. Leftover recycled food is rarely donated because it is harder to store and transport and has a short shelf-life.

In addition, the increased use of off-site kitchens to prepare food has helped reduce waste by as much as 10 percent, Tabacchi noted. A classic example of an off-site kitchen operation is Taco Bell, for which food is prepared in central commissaries to be reheated and served at individual restaurants. Off-site kitchens use a technique called sous vide, or "under the vacuum," in which the food is cooked and sealed in a vacuum pack for use after it has been shipped to the restaurant.

"This set-up eliminates costs and enables better management of food production. Managers at restaurants served by an off-site kitchen do not have to bother with ordering ingredients and preparing the food; they only have to order the amount of food they use," Tabacchi noted. "Thus it makes for one less source of substantial food donations."

The "almost total absence" of awareness of industry trends among food-donation programs was a cause for concern. "One would think that you would study the market to find out what was happening and why," Tabacchi said.

Half the surveys were left blank on questions asking which food-industry trends were having the greatest effect on food-donation programs. One respondent noted, "We don't have time to research the industry aside from keeping up with some of the popular press. We understand how important it is to think about the future of the industry, but we rarely have the time to devote to that kind of planning."

The survey also revealed what the researchers characterize as a misunderstanding on the part of food-donation programs. Over half (54 percent) of respondents said that the food-service industry does not understand the operational needs of food-distribution programs. "The food-service donation programs appear to assume that the donors have some kind of responsibility to their donation programs," Tabbachi said. "It is a stretch for the food-donation programs to expect donors to have the same level of involvement as the recipients themselves."

Researchers say food-distribution programs need to work more closely with the food-service industry to cultivate new sources of excess food and develop alliances with organizations with food to donate.

The survey revealed a wide diversity of size and scope of food distribution programs. Some operated on small budgets and served small communities, while others like the New York City's City Harvest have annual budgets of nearly $2.5 million. Some programs have full-time employees, others rely solely on volunteers. The annual volume of food handled ranged from 8,000 pounds to 5.5 million pounds and the number of donors ranged from 10 to 3,300.

Independent and chain restaurants were the most generous with food contributions, followed by hotels and supermarkets, the study found.