Measuring individual plate waste in school lunches. Visual estimation and children's ratings vs. actual weighing of plate waste.

Weighing individual plate waste is time consuming and often impractical. As alternatives, two indirect measures were evaluated-visual estimation and children's ratings of plate waste. Visual estimations were highly correlated with percent waste (r = 0.93) and were quite accurate. Ratings by children were less accurate but were still considered a useful indirect measure that should be further developed.