Food Footprint Research Articles

Environmental Sustainability: Ecological Footprint Analysis of Ibadan North, Nigeria

The ecological implications of global development have been a primary focus in discussions surrounding sustainability. As urban development expands globally, addressing its many ecological concerns becomes imperative. However, the ecological footprint (EF) analysis of urban sustainability within the sub-Saharan region, particularly Nigeria, remains largely unexplored. Here, we used the EF indices to explore the environmental sustainability of Ibadan City, one of Nigeria's fastest-growing urban centres. We implemented a bottom-up EF approach in the study, employing a cross-sectional design. We used an EF questionnaire to gather monthly household consumption data on food, energy, and water. We analysed these data descriptively and methodologically using EF formulae. Findings indicate environmental sustainability, as reflected in the low EF of 0.43gha/capita, with the energy footprint accounting for the majority (93%) at 0.4gha/capita. In comparison, the food footprint had the lowest share (below 3%) at 0.01gha/capita. Our findings demonstrate the significant impact of energy consumption on the overall EF, reinforcing the need for more sustainable energy solutions in urban planning, thus contributing to urban sustainability by informing urban planning and energy policy in alignment with the global sustainability drive.

Spatial Differentiation of the Land and Nutrient Footprints for Kampala: Implications for Urban Food Sustainability

Rapid urban growth, together with an increase in urban food demand and rural-urban food flows, effectively transfer the urban footprint to the surrounding cities. In Uganda, where fast urban growth is evident, data on the resultant foodprint is sparse. To bridge this gap in knowledge, this paper quantitatively analyses the flows of the rural-urban cooking banana (matooke) to Kampala, Uganda, and the embedded land and nutrient footprints. Food freight surveys involving interviews with food truck drivers and field measurements were used to obtain data on quantities of banana flow to ten purposively sampled city markets. The results confirm that 88.5% of Kampala’s banana inflows are sourced from the Ankole sub-region. Disaggregation of the flows by season revealed a 52% fall in banana supplies to the city during the wet season. The calculated annual land footprint associated with the city’s banana inflows was 15,268 hectares. The hot spots for NPK nutrient mining are in the Ankole region, including mean daily losses of 362.29±29.13Kg (K), 104.66±8.42Kg (N) and 4.03±0.32Kg(P). The ANOVA results exhibited significant differences (P˂0.05) in the cooking banana land and nutrient footprints between the source regions and concerning the dry and wet seasons, except for the Rwenzori, Kigezi, and Bunyoro sub-regions pertaining to the land footprint and Buganda, Tooro, and Bunyoro as regards the nutrient footprint. These results emphasise the intense rural nutrient mining that is associated with urban food consumption. Thus, to guarantee sustainable matooke production, there is a need to establish waste diversion strategies that enable nutrient recycling back to rural farms.

Adding mirror clauses within the European Green Deal: Hype or hope?

AbstractThe proposed reductions in farm input uses foreseen in the European Green Deal may penalize European farm production while increasing environmental leakages to foreign countries where production may expand. These expected impacts have led to calls for a more restrictive trade policy based on mirror clauses. This paper considers as a case study a potential ban on glyphosate in vegetable and fruits production. We develop an original computable general equilibrium model with endogenous adoption of new European production standards by foreign producers on currently latent markets. We find in our case study that adding mirror clauses to the Green Deal marginally improves European farm income and the global environmental footprint of food. We find that foreign producers as a whole can gain from these clauses and not lose as in a standard analysis. European households support these clauses by paying higher food bills while consuming vegetables and fruits produced without glyphosate.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with sustainable nutrition and environmental footprints on higher educated individuals

ABSTRACT Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Med-Diet adherence with sustainable nutrition and environmental footprints in academicians. Methods: The study involved 153 academicians aged 23-64 working in a university in Turkey. Data were collected through a questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale (MEDAS) and Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviours Scale (SHEBS). Carbon and water footprints were calculated. Results: All sub-scales of SHEBS were higher in individuals who adhered to Med-Diet than those who did not (p<0.05). The carbon and water footprints of individuals with high adherence to the Med-Diet were lower than those of no adherence (p<0.05). Each 1-point increase in MEDAS score was associated with a 1-point increase in SHEBS score, a 0.15 CO2 eq/kg and a 0.001 m3/year decrease in the amount of carbon and water footprint of food. Conclusion: Higher adherence to the Med-Diet was associated with higher sustainable nutrition behaviours, and lower environmental footprints.

Promoting a sustainable diet through carbon labeling of food: Insights from young consumers in the Americas

The agri-food system is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, and its contribution is projected to grow significantly in coming years. Consumers can drive system change and help mitigate the climate crisis through demand behaviour, with youth uniquely positioned as key actors. Carbon labelling offers a tool for informing consumers about the carbon footprint of food, and thereby promoting purchase of lower-carbon products. This cross-cultural study (n = 815) sought to investigate perceptions of carbon labels on food amongst youth (18–24 years) from two medium-high CO2-emitting countries in the Americas – Canada and Argentina. Using a mixed methods online survey approach that integrates a quantitative questionnaire with open response questions, we found knowledge deficits in familiarity with the concepts ‘carbon footprint’ and especially ‘carbon label’, and these varied with country, gender, and level of education. Further, exemplars of six food carbon labels, standardized for the carbon emissions information displayed, differed for scores of usefulness, clarity, understanding, confusion, and incomprehensibility. Labels also differed in their relative preference ratings, which varied with education level, with the ‘Traffic light horizontal scale’ the most preferred overall. Our findings inform carbon label design and emissions-related education initiatives, each of which should be optimized for different segments of the youth market in order to effectively promote consumption of lower-carbon foods.

Healthiness and sustainability of food service in healthcare settings in Germany

Abstract Background Current dietary patterns threaten individual and planetary health. Healthcare settings can set a positive example for dietary change, but data on the quality of food they offer is scarce. The aim of our study was to assess the environmental footprint and nutritional quality of food service in hospitals and nursing homes in Germany. Methods We collected 6-12 months of food procurement data and all available meal plans from three nursing homes and two hospitals in Germany. Procured food items were categorized into 50 food groups (e.g., potatoes, beef, apples), and the environmental footprint was calculated (i.e., land use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, acidification, eutrophication, and water use) using life-cycle analysis factors based on a recent meta-analysis. Lunches from a representative week were broken down into their constituent ingredients and analyzed for adherence to the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) using an established dietary index (PHDI). Results Preliminary analysis of one nursing home and one hospital showed that animal-source foods (ASF) accounted for 70% of overall GHG emissions and land use and 76% of water use, primarily from beef, pork, milk, and cheese. Among plant-based foods, coffee disproportionately contributed to the environmental footprint. Red meat accounted for 30-45% of lunch calories consumed (13-25% of weight) and potatoes accounted for 20-24% of calories (31-35% of weight), whereas vegetables and legumes combined accounted for 11-15% of calories (33-35% of weight). Nursing home meals achieved 61 and hospital meals 71 out of 150 points on the PHDI. Conclusions Healthcare institutions in Germany have poor adherence to the PHD, with up to two-thirds of calories derived from red meat and potatoes. Unsurprisingly, ASF account for the majority of the institutions’ environmental food footprint. Policies to make healthcare foodservice more environmentally sustainable while ensuring nutritional adequacy are urgently needed. Key messages • Foodservice in German hospitals and nursing homes is neither healthy nor environmentally sustainable. • Policies are needed to improve healthcare food service for individual and planetary health.

A comprehensive continental-scale analysis of carbon footprint of food production: Comparing continents around the world

Food production is an important source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Quantifying the carbon footprint of all the major food categories in different continents is critical for accurately evaluating various aspects of GHG emissions from food production on a continental and global scale. Such information, however, is lacking. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of plant-based and animal-based food production in all continents comprehensively using 5353 carbon footprint values from 524 published papers and calculated GHG emissions from food production (system boundary is from cradle to farm gate) at the continental and global scale. Our results indicate that the average carbon footprint of plant-based foods amounts to 0.66 kg CO2-eq kg−1, which is only 10.7% of animal-based foods (6.15 kg CO2-eq kg−1). The carbon footprint of plant-based food in Asia and Europe is 8.9%–184% higher than that of other continents. Africa has the lowest carbon footprint for plant-based foods, owing to its low agricultural input and limited crop management. However, the carbon footprint of animal-based foods in Africa and Asia is 2.5%–150% higher than that of other continents, with North America and Oceania recording the lowest. Total annual GHG emission from global food production reached 8125 Mt CO2-eq, with grains, meat, and milk together accounting for 70.8%. Asia, owing to its large production, emerged as the largest emitter, accounting for 55.4% of global GHG emissions. It was followed by Europe (16.3%) and North America (10.5%), while Africa, South America and Oceania together emit 17.8%. In summary, our study presents the most comprehensive account of the carbon footprint of food production at the continental and global scale to-date, which will help develop strategies and policies to reduce GHG emissions at various levels such as geographical regions, food and nutrition security, resource availability and resource use.

Nutrient footprint versus EPA + DHA security in land-locked regions—more of local pond farmed, imported marine fish or fish oil capsules?

EPA + DHA intake in land-locked central Europe (CE) is barely fulfilled. Imported marine fish/farmed salmonids are likely the backbone of an ailing EPA + DHA security. Supplementing with captured marine fish oil capsules (~0.5 g up to 1.6 g CO2-eq. mg EPA + DHA−1) could be comparable in GHG emissions with fish consumption itself (~1 g to as low as 0.6 g CO2-eq. mg EPA + DHA−1). But synergistic benefits of EPA + DHA intake by consuming fish protein need consideration too. Taking semi-intensive pond carp and intensively farmed salmon as models, we analyzed footprint, eco-services, and resource use efficiency perspectives of achieving EPA + DHA security in a CE region. Despite a lower production footprint, pond-farmed fish greatly lag in EPA + DHA supply (carp 101–181 mg 100 g−1 < salmon 750–1300 mg 100 g−1). It doubles-to-quadruples footprint ‘per mg’ of EPA + DHA: nitrogen (carp 18.3 > salmon 8.7 mg N), phosphorus (carp 6.8 > salmon 1.6 mg P), and climate change (carp 1.84 > salmon 0.8 g CO2-eq.). With enhancements in pond carp (>300 mg EPA + DHA 100 g−1), these differences may cease to exist. Harnessing EPA + DHA bioaccumulation pathways active in ponds, finishing feeding strategies, and polyculture, the EPA + DHA content in pond fish may be increased. Ecosystem services with EPA + DHA mining from pond food web or high EPA + DHA output-to-input ratio (pond carp 1–200 > RAS salmon 0.75) make ponds an eco-efficient system. As fish consumption in CE must improve, pond-farmed fish would be needed to complement (but not substitute) salmonid/marine fish/oil capsules consumption. Achieving EPA + DHA security with minimum pressure on the environment or global resources.

Global environmental footprint of food.

Global environmental footprint of food.

The Role of Spatialisation and Spatial Planning in Improving Food Systems: Insights from the Fast-Growing City of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Cities are growing rapidly. It takes a chain of activities to get food from farms to cities. This food system is largely driven by autonomous market development, seizing opportunities favourable to a stakeholder but unfavourable to society at large. Spatial planning is crucial along the chain of food system activities to improve food system outcomes, resilience, and limit negative trade-offs. To include the food system in spatial planning, it must first be mapped (i.e., spatialisation) to understand the functions. These maps inform the spatial planning process, which in turn influences spatial configuration of activities. This paper explores the role of spatialisation and spatial planning in the food system of the fast-growing Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA) using three different approaches: urban footprint, mapping, and semi-structured interviews. Stakeholders are unaware of spatial aspects that are present in DMA’s food system and therefore do not consider it while developing spatial plans. The analysis in this article, based on the Urban Food Footprint analysis, food system spatialisation, and interviews shows that spatial planning informed by descriptive spatial information can play an important role in guiding the transformation to a more robust, resilient, and inclusive food system.

Consumer Attitudes towards Fish and Seafood in Portugal: Opportunities for Footprint Reduction

Fish and seafood are central to the Portuguese diet, comprising a significant portion of Portugal’s Ecological Footprint. Diversifying dietary preferences is important because it has the potential to reduce pressure on marine ecosystems. We explored this opportunity by coupling (1) an Ecological Footprint assessment of Portugal to quantify the environmental impacts of Portugal’s food consumption choices (particularly fish and seafood), with (2) a consumer survey to assess attitudes towards fish and seafood of Portuguese residents and their willingness to modify their preferences, thus shedding light on the potential for sustainable dietary choices in Portugal and the best strategies by which to achieve them. Ecological Footprint results confirm that Portugal is unique in the Mediterranean region in that its food Footprint is driven by fish and seafood consumption, while, for most other countries, the main driver is meat. Results from the consumer survey show that Portuguese fish and seafood preferences are characterized by a high frequency of consumption and a preference for high trophic level species. Age was the primary demographic factor influencing consumption habits in Portugal. Moreover, Portuguese consumers lack knowledge on sustainable fishing practices. Actions and strategies to increase sustainable dietary choices in Portugal will need to consider these factors. We recommend targeted outreach messaging for different age groups, more and better information on sustainable options, together with efforts to protect marine biodiversity. Future research needs to better understand the whole value chain and all relevant stakeholders of the fish and seafood sector for more effective incentives for Footprint reduction.

WPŁYW PRODUKCJI ŻYWNOŚCI POCHODZENIA ZWIERZĘCEGO NA ŚRODOWISKO NATURALNE W OPINII BADANEJ GRUPY POLSKICH KONSUMENTÓW

Background. The livestock sector is nowadays considered one of those areas of human activity that has a significant impact on the environment, due to, among other things, large water footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the over-exploitation and changed utilization of natural areas. Reducing the consumption of products of animal origin, especially beef, is therefore widely regarded as an important step that humanity should take to reduce the environmental footprint of food. This study aimed to analyze the opinion of consumers on the environmental impact of livestock production ( particularly, meat in general, milk and eggs), and their motives for limiting the consumption of such food. The survey covered 163 respondents, strongly represented by women (85 %), people with higher education or students (89 %), aged 21 ÷ 30 (74 %). Results and conclusions. More than half of the respondents expressed the opinion that meat produc tion exerted a negative impact on the environment, while less than a half had a similar opinion about dairy and egg production. They most often perceived water and carbon footprint as important issues, while only a limited percentage paid attention to the problem of the exploitation and transformation of land for animal production purposes. A half of the respondents declared that they limited or excluded meat and/or other products of animal origin from their diet. Among the motives for such a restriction, they mentioned pri marily health (44 %) and ethical (30 %) reasons. Only 11 % indicated care for the environment as the reason. The study points to the need to educate consumers about the impact of livestock production on the environment, including the key indicators. Such education should take into account divergencies in the environmental footprint of specific raw materials and food of animal origin, and of various livestock rearing systems.

Contributions to a more sustainable model of food production and consumption in Portugal: an opportunity to reduce the ecological footprint of food

Contributions to a more sustainable model of food production and consumption in Portugal: an opportunity to reduce the ecological footprint of food

Contributions to a more sustainable model of food production and consumption in Portugal: an opportunity to reduce the ecological footprint of food

Contributions to a more sustainable model of food production and consumption in Portugal: an opportunity to reduce the ecological footprint of food

Developing the nitrogen handprint approach to quantify the positive impacts of industrial symbiosis on nitrogen cycles

Excessive nitrogen (N) uptake for nutrient use in food production and industry and increased N losses to the environment severely interfere with nutrient cycles and harm the environment and thus, closing N cycles through N recovery and recycling is required to improve N use efficiency. To quantify positive impacts enhancing N cycles, this study suggests a novel N handprint approach, which combines life cycle assessment based nutrient footprint and carbon handprint approaches. The N handprint comprises of a set of indicators providing a wide systemic view on changes in N cycles. The case study demonstrates that the N handprint is created when a recycled N nutrient product is used instead of a virgin N nutrient for the needs of a pulp and paper mill wastewater treatment. According to our results, the handprint equals a reduction of 454 kg of virgin N inputs, and 5.6 kg of total N inputs for daily treated wastewater. Additionally, global warming potential is 91%, and the eutrophication potential 48% lower for the recycled N nutrient than for the virgin N nutrient. These results can be used to promote the use of recycled N on similar occasions in order to improve nutrient use efficiency. • The nitrogen (N) handprint approach aims to highlight efficient nutrient use. • The approach is combining carbon handprint and nutrient footprint. • The approach is applied to N recycling in an industrial symbiosis. • N handprint enables to show positive environmental impacts of circular N solutions.

Optimization analysis of grain self-production and import structure based on carbon footprint

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reduce the carbon footprint of food by adjusting the international trade and planting structure and to provide possible ideas for the improvement of the world's food green production and green trade.Design/methodology/approachUsing the literature analysis method to collect carbon footprint data calculated based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, and establishing an optimization model and an ARIMA prediction model for empirical analysis, this paper explores the possibility to reduce carbon emissions by adjusting import structure and self-production structure.FindingsThe results show that only through the adjustment of the import structure, carbon emissions can be reduced by 3.29 million tons at the source of imports. When domestic self-production is included, a total of 4.51 million tons of carbon emissions can be reduced, this provides ideas for low-carbon emission reduction in agriculture and animal husbandry.Originality/valueThis article is the first to use the carbon footprint data obtained by other scholars using LCA to optimize and analyze the grain trade structure and planting structure from a low-carbon perspective, and obtain specific emission reductions.

What should we eat? Realistic solutions for reducing our food footprint

Livestock production systems are associated with climate change, land degradation, and animal welfare concerns, while overconsumption of animal-sourced foods is a major driver of human disease. Thus, shifting towards plant-rich diets is expected to deliver benefits for human health, the environment, and animal welfare. Nevertheless, diets high in animal products are flourishing, especially in high-income countries. Here, we take a novel inter-disciplinary approach to evaluating sustainability of diets by assessing five common plant-rich diets (Mediterranean, flexitarian/semi-vegetarian, vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian) on two metrics. First, we established each diet's environmental, human health, and animal welfare impacts, using quantitative data sourced from a review of the literature, including life cycle assessments. Second, we evaluated the human factor by surveying current consumer dietary preferences (i.e., which diet participants had followed over the past week) and the likelihood of adopting each plant-rich diet in the future, among a sample of Australian adults (n = 253). Combining the results from the review and the survey in a Behavior Prioritization Matrix (BPM), the Mediterranean diet was shown to have the greatest projected positive impact, followed by the vegetarian diet. This study is the first to combine assessments of sustainable diets on the three dimensions of environment, human health, and animal welfare with probability of adoption. Our findings highlight the necessity of assessing plant-rich diets through a holistic lens when identifying target diets to promote, in order to support sustainable food systems in high-income countries.

PEFAP : Estimating the environmental footprint of food products from packaging data

PEFAP : Estimating the environmental footprint of food products from packaging data

Exploring Changes in Fishery Emissions and Organic Carbon Impacts Associated With a Recovering Stock

International objectives for sustainable development and biodiversity conservation require restoring fish populations to healthy levels and reducing fishing impacts on marine ecosystems. At the same time, governments, retailers, and consumers are increasingly motivated to reduce the carbon footprint of food. These concerns are reflected in measures of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the CFP Reform Regulation, which highlighted a need to move from traditional single-stock management toward an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF). Using publicly available landings and effort data combined with estimates of adult population biomass, we develop methods to explore the potential for lowering emissions intensity and impacts on organic carbon stocks through ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks. We use the recent recovery of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) stocks in the Northeast Atlantic as a case study. With a focus on the hake fisheries of France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, we compare 2008 and 2016 fishing years. We make an initial estimate of the influence of changing stock status on greenhouse gas emissions during the fishery phase from fuel use and investigate the potential disturbance of organic carbon in the ecosystem, specifically via identification of bottom trawling overlap with organic-rich muddy sediments, and directly on storage in hake biomass. Our findings indicate that recovery of the hake stock was associated with reductions in overall emissions intensity from fuel and proportional impact on hake populations, however, total emissions from both fuel and landings increased, as did likely disturbance of sedimentary organic carbon in surface sediments due to benthic trawling. Ultimately, the aims of this analysis are to further explore the climate impacts of fisheries and overfishing, and to inform development of EAF in the EU.

Mitigating spread of contamination in meat supply chain management using deep learning

Industry 4.0 recommends a paradigm shift from traditional manufacturing to automated industrial practices, especially in different parts of supply chain management. Besides, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 underscores the urgency of ensuring a sustainable supply chain with novel technologies including Artificial Intelligence to decrease food loss, which has the potential of mitigating food waste. These new technologies can increase productivity, especially in perishable products of the supply chain by reducing expenses, increasing the accuracy of operations, accelerating processes, and decreasing the carbon footprint of food. Artificial intelligence techniques such as deep learning can be utilized in various sections of meat supply chain management––where highly perishable products like spoiled meat need to be separated from wholesome ones to prevent cross-contamination with food-borne pathogens. Therefore, to automate this process and prevent meat spoilage and/or improve meat shelf life which is crucial to consumer meat preferences and sustainable consumption, a classification model was trained by the DCNN and PSO algorithms with 100% accuracy, which discerns wholesome meat from spoiled ones.