For one service, weigh each identifiable batch into one category: spoilage, preparation, plate or overproduction. Give the batch a stable identifier and a net weight, either by subtracting tare or by copying a reported net that names the scale and the time. Add only the valid measured rows. An estimate, a blank, a negative, a repeated batch and a second reading of the same bin stay out. A purchase invoice amount, if you copy one, names the invoice and what was bought. It is not the cost of the discarded fraction.

Return to the hospitality overview for the wider kitchen list. Mixed workplace streams, including office tea-point food, stay on the workplace seven-day log. Prepared, served, surplus and waste for one event stay on the event food log. England’s duty to present food waste separately stays on the waste-reduction guide. This log does not say whether a particular kitchen is in scope.

What one service log records

Name the service date. Put each batch in only one category.

  • Spoilage is food damaged or out of date before it is prepared for service.
  • Preparation is trim and food discarded during preparation. It is not food that was served.
  • Plate is food returned from a customer’s plate.
  • Overproduction is food prepared and available, including buffet food, that was not served.

WRAP’s Guardians of Grub tracker uses spoilage, preparation, plate and other. This log keeps those four kinds of food apart. Preparation is trim discarded during preparation, not food that was served. Counting served food as preparation would count it again as plate waste. Overproduction is food ready to serve that is not eaten.

Give every batch a batch_id so two batches of carrots on the same day stay distinct. Write how the net weight was observed. tare_subtracted needs the empty-container weight and the gross weight; the quantity is gross minus tare. reported_net needs a measurement reference that names the scale or the supplier net and the time. Do not add two cumulative readings of the same bin.

A batch marked as also recorded in another category, or a repeated batch_id that has not been reconciled to one valid record, is a double count. Leave those kilograms out of every total. Recorded uniqueness means one retained measurement per batch. Keep the later copy visible, mark it double_count, and put the retained batch_id in duplicate_of. If a pair remains unresolved, exclude both until it is resolved. A blank quantity is unknown, not zero. An estimate is not a measured kilogram.

Fill in one identifiable batch

Download both files. Save a copy of the blank file and type into that copy.

The files are plain CSV. They do not add the rows, reject a double count, or treat a purchase invoice as the cost of discarded food. You type the status.

Status precedence is double_count, then invalid, then unknown, then estimate_excluded, then cumulative_excluded, then recorded.

A recorded row needs a unique batch_id, a measured quantity that is a finite number greater than zero, also_recorded no, and weigh_method tare_subtracted or reported_net. A completed measured row with a negative or non-finite weight is invalid. A purchase invoice amount is allowed only beside a recorded row, only with purchase_invoice_reference and purchase_invoice_scope filled, and only as the amount on that purchase.

Worked example: 3.5 kg measured, and the rows left out

The rows are a fictional service at Northgate Kitchen on 12 March 2026. The kitchen is invented.

Batch What was written Status
NK-0312-01 carrots 2.0 kg preparation. Tare 0.4 kg, gross 2.4 kg, scale S-1 at 10:05. Recorded.
NK-0312-02 chips 0.4 kg plate. Reported net on scale S-1 at 14:20. Recorded.
NK-0312-03 bread 0.5 kg spoilage. Tare 0.3 kg, gross 0.8 kg. Copies GBP 4.50 from bakery invoice INV-441 for a whole 2 kg loaf. Recorded. The 4.50 is the loaf purchase, not the cost of the discarded 0.5 kg, and is not added to the kilograms.
NK-0312-04 buffet rice 0.6 kg overproduction. Reported net on scale S-1 at 15:00. Recorded. 2.0 plus 0.4 plus 0.5 plus 0.6 is 3.5 kg.
NK-0312-05 soup 1.0 kg estimated because the caddy looked half full. Estimate excluded.
NK-0312-06 and NK-0312-07 stew 1.0 kg preparation and 1.0 kg plate, each marked as also recorded. Double count. Both stay out.
NK-0312-08 rice Blank quantity. Unknown. The blank is not zero.
NK-0312-01 repeated The same carrots batch entered again. duplicate_of NK-0312-01. The retained record is the 10:05 tare reading. Excluded duplicate. The original 2.0 kg stays in the 3.5 kg because that pair is reconciled.
NK-0312-09 mixed trim 3.2 kg from a cumulative caddy reading. Cumulative excluded, so the same bin is not counted twice.
NK-0312-10 onions Minus 0.2 kg measured. Invalid.

A GBP 3.00 figure with no invoice reference is left blank. The 3.5 kg is the sum of four fictional measured rows, not the kitchen’s waste and not a weekly or yearly figure.

Limits

The log does not decide that food is safe to donate, does not apply a cost per kilogram, and does not divide by covers. There is no average cost on this log. Before a public waste-reduction claim, use the green-claims guide.

Sources