Sustainable diet

Sustainable diets look at the impact that food consumption has on planetary resources and proposes healthy eating patterns that can be promote the needs of the environment, society and the economy. This growing body of research is recognised by a variety of international bodies from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

With global demands for food changing due to a growing populations and increased consumption of animal protein, current production methods are contributing to severe environmental problems such as decline of biodiversity and a significant contribution to the process of climate change.

Addressing consumption patterns, food waste and resource intensive methods of agricultural production is seen as a major way of reducing environmental impact in the long-run.

The problems of over consumption
Evidence shows that Europeans are eating too much of the wrong types of food with excessive: sugars, fats, and salt. It is estimated that that the average European consumes over 3,000 calories a day, 1,000 more than the daily recommended dose. An unfortunate paradox is emerging whereby people in the developed world are consuming calories to such an excess and their health is starting to be affected because of malnutrition. The health challenges of our current food consumption patterns is well documented and already under the attention of policy-makers, also at European level. Still, progress is slow and obesity levels are still rising; particularly under children.

From an environmental perspective the developed world needs to moderate its appetite for animal meat. Rearing animal protein food uses significantly more water, land and energy than that of fruit and vegetables. Some still find it hard to believe that producing one 125g burger can produce over 4.6 kg of carbon dioxide, while producing the same weight of potatoes is responsible for 0,03 kg. A 15-fold difference.

At the moment, the average European diet contains 70% more protein than recommended. Next to the reduction of food waste, the potential of a more balanced diet to reduce our food footprint without compromising on budget and health is simply enormous. Meat does not have to be cut out of one’s diet.

European food consumption and production is estimated to account for 20-30% of the EU’s total environmental impact.

Definition of a sustainable diet
In 2010, the FAO defined a sustainable diet as:[1] …''those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets areprotective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.''

Modern sustainable diets
Modern sustainable diets mostly concentrate on issues to do with Low Carbon Diets which are structured to reduce the impact of global warming. Leading examples of this include the Bon Appétit Management Company’s, Eat Low Carbon Diet which has been heavily commercialised.

But modern sustainable diets are going so much further. WWF’s LiveWell for LIFE looks at balancing broader environmental concerns, with health, social and economic challenges. This project, which was pioneered in the UK, looks closely at national diets in three continental European countries France, Sweden and Spain and looks at how average national diet can be modified to achieve necessary goal.

Another contemporary diet was created by the company Barilla and its “Centre for Food Nutrition” which has created a model which compares the nutritional aspect of foods with their environmental impact. The environmental pyramid was created by studying and measuring the impact of foods already present in traditional food pyramids on the environment, and placing them along an upside down pyramid, where foods placed at the lowest level (at the peak of the triangle) have the lowest environmental impact.

Other regionalised diets also exist such as the Mediterranean diet which is a nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of Greece, southern Italy, and Spain[1][2] The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of meat and meat products.

The Nordic diet places a heavy emphasis on local foods that are rich in omega fatty acids and anti-oxidants. Antioxidant-rich berries that thrive in northern parts of Europe (blueberries, cloudberries), greens like kale and cabbage that promote healthy blood flow, and lean game meats like elk and lamb all form part of this diet. Professor Henrik Saxe of Copenhagen University’s, OPUS Centre claims that GHG produced could be 27-percent lower in these emission in comparison with the average Danish diet.

Policy response in Europe
An important contribution to this debate is the European Commission’s Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe. Amongst other things this broad policy review looks at "…incentives for healthier and more sustainable production and consumption of food and to halve the disposal of edible food waste in the EU by 2020."

As part of this new policy a public consultation on the “Sustainability of the Food System” was launched in the summer of 2013 and asks stakeholders for their opinion on how our food system must be adapted. This will go on to form a Communication on Sustainable Food by the European Commission. The European Parliament’s 766 MEPs and the Member States of the Council will debate this Communication and makes, changes and vote on approval.

The indicative timeline for the consultation is as follows:


 * July-1 October 2013 Consultation Sustainability of the Food System
 * December 2013 Impact Assessment
 * January 2014 EC Communication on Sustainable Food published
 * March 2014 Environment Council will discuss the proposal?
 * Spring 2014 European Parliament reaction
 * June 2014 Environment Council decides on legislative proposals?
 * 2015 New legislation and policy recommendations enter into effect.