Sustainable Food Consumption Mitigates Impacts
Sustainable food consumption mitigates impacts by minimizing resource waste, using circular economy, and adopting climate friendly diets.
Topics:
- Minimizing Resource Waste by Reducing Food Loss & Waste
- Adopting Circular Economy Principles for Consumers
- Adopting Sustainable Food Consumption Practices
- Adopting Plant-based Foods in Healthy & Climate Friendly Diets
- Changing Future Diets: Cellular Meat & Precision Fermentation
For more information, please refer to Education.
Minimizing Resource Waste by Reducing Food Loss & Waste
Pre-harvest food supplies can be impacted by extreme weather events. For example, a damaging wind just prior to harvesting results in the discarding of fruit in orchards.
So, these extreme events result in economic losses. And these events also result in disruptions to food supply chains.
In addition, a significant amount of post-harvest food supplies is lost or wasted.
The United Nations Food & Agriculture organization (FAO) estimates that one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted.
First, food loss is the decrease in edible food from decisions and actions from post harvest food suppliers.
Second, food waste is the waste of edible food from decisions and actions at the retail, food service provider or consumer stage.
However various organizations and initiatives are underway to reduce food waste and loss.
Adopting Circular Economy Principles for Consumers
A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. It is a regenerative system.
And resource inputs and waste are minimized. Further, emissions and energy leakages are minimized by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops.
Plus, consumers can help with the adoption of circular economy principles.
Further, a circular economy is a starting point is reducing food waste and food loss along the agri-food value chain.
For more information refer to Circular Economy.
Adopting Sustainable Food Consumption Practices
For Consumption, Circular Economy processes include:
- Choosing low carbon materials
- Designing to minimize waste in the broader system
- Reusing as much waste streams as possible
- Capturing nutrients from food waste and reconnecting the flow of nutrients rather than sending to landfills.
Adopting Plant-based Foods in Healthy and Climate-Friendly Diets
Globally, a large portion of available agricultural land is used to raise livestock and dairy.
And increasing this portion is a leading driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss.
Several times the amount of land is required to produce a kilocalorie of beef (and a kilogram of protein) versus the land required to produce the same amounts of plant-based alternatives (See Our World in Data).
By consuming more plant-based foods, land can be freed up and used for natural areas, habitats, and carbon sequestration. However, any freed up land must not be wasted for urban sprawl.
Plant-based diets refers to food comes from plants and not meat, dairy. Growing plant-based diets improve health and help to mitigate climate change.
Examples of plant-based diets include fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains, and legumes.
Recognized plant-based diets from food chains include Beyond Meat, Impossible Meats, and others. Plant-based products are available from major grocery stores and restaurants who may use product name variations.
On the other hand, Whole diets refers foods that are minimally processed.
Finally, by choosing healthy and climate friendly diets consumers can help create sustainable food resources.
Changing Future Diets: Precision Fermentation & Cellular Meat
Our sources for protein are changing, and our diets are changing based on with two different types or processes:
In the first type, fermented-derived proteins are made from microorganisms. The process of precision fermentation supports the formation of complex organic molecules. It allows the production of healthy foods and eliminates the climate and environmental impacts of todays industrialized agriculture systems. From these organic molecules, food designers can create various recipes. An example is Nature’s Fynd, where protein-derived microorganisms, such as fungi can be formed into meat, milk, cheese, or yogurt products. The fungus is grown via a a fermentation process referred to as precision fermentation.
In the second type, protein is made from the stem cells of animals. This is referred to as cultivated meat.
Note: this web site is focused on sustainable food resources – protecting the natural resources essential for food production.
- Last Modified: May 17, 2024