Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36502706›Full record

ArticleJournal of environmental management2023

Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed household food management and food waste behavior? A natural experiment using propensity score matching.

Jayanath Ananda, Gamithri Gayana Karunasena, David Pearson

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of environmental management, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jayanath AnandaSchool of Business and Law, CQ University, 120 Spencer Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia. Electronic address: j.ananda@cqu.edu.au.
Gamithri Gayana KarunasenaSchool of Business and Law, CQ University, 400 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia; Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, Wine Innovation Central Building, Level 1, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, SA, 5064, Australia.
David PearsonSchool of Business and Law, CQ University, 400 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia; Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, Wine Innovation Central Building, Level 1, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, SA, 5064, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Household food management behavior changed considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic. A growing body of work has quantified the impact of lockdowns on household food waste. Yet, previous studies used a retrospective study design which undermines the accuracy of the causal effect on household food waste. This paper investigates the causal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household food management and food waste using a natural experiment approach. Using two large national-scale longitudinal data sets (n = 8157), this study quantifies the impact of COVID-19 on food waste and food behavior of Australian households. Propensity score matching (PSM) was carried out to address potential endogeneity issues and to select control and treatment groups for analysis. Findings reveal that Australian households reduced food waste by 9% on average in 2020 (during COVID-19) compared to the pre-pandemic (2019) level. The use of a grocery list, discount purchases, and 'just-in-case' purchases, and food refrigeration have recorded a marked increase during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic times. The changes to food management and food discard behavior during the pandemic offer important insights for behavior change campaigns to reduce household food waste. Interventions to sustain good food planning and storage practices and involving food retailers are promising entry points in addressing household food waste. The study also highlights the considerable challenge in achieving SDG 12.3 target by 2030.

Indexed as

COVID-19Refuse DisposalAustraliaCommunicable Disease ControlFoodHumansPandemicsPropensity ScoreRetrospective StudiesBehavior changeCOVID-19 lockdownFood wasteHouseholdsPropensity score matchingRecall bias

Identifiers

PMID36502706
PMCPMC9721290

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.