Expiry Date Food Situation and Management in Buddhist Temples

Abstract

Managing food with a label indicated the corrected expiration date is important. This study used mixed methods, which combined both quantitative and qualitative study. The research aims to analyze the situation and management of the expired date food in Buddhist temples. The study samples were dietaries found in temple and the person who was dealing with the food management of 33 temples. Checklist forms and interview guideline questions that passed the quality inspection were used in this study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and content analysis. The results showed that the labeled expiration date food mostly found were 84.85 percent of the starch products, and 75.76 percent of milk and dairy products. The survey found most types of food were expired which was mostly found in the regular days such as the longest was 2,155 expired days found in the seasonings products. The second longest days of expiration were dried food at 650 expired days. The food management system of the expiration date food in temples was not clear. Most of the remaining food will be distributed to folks and military camp. In some temples, they had a small number of the Buddhism, there were kept food in temples. Both distributed food and stored food were not inspected the expiratory date and did not have the management strategies in accordance with the public health principles. Therefore, it is required to find the food management method according to the number of expiration date food and prioritizing the categories of consumed food and distributed food.