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Special Issue "Sustainable Food Production and Consumption"

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2022.

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ada Margarida Correia Nunes Da Rocha
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Guest Editor

Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: food service; catering; food waste; food processing; menu planning; menu sustainability

Dr. Belmira Almeida Ferreira Neto
E-Mail Website

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; food supply chain; life cycle assessment; environmental impact assessment; sustainable procurements

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, one-third of world food produced for human consumption is lost or discarded. At the same time, the world needs to create a sustainable food future to feed the more than 9 billion people that are expected to inhabit the planet by 2050. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals represent a global agenda for improving sustainability at a global level, with one of these goals (goal 12) being devoted to ensuring sustainable production and consumption patterns.

This Special Issue intends to be the union of multidisciplinary areas of knowledge, under the sustainability pillar, based on knowledge about one of the most relevant agents for overall environmental impacts: food production and consumption.

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to highlight sustainability assessment within agri-food production, food consumption, and food waste reduction to meet the needs of updating knowledge and developing new skills required by multiple social and economic agents. Food waste implies significant economic losses, ethical and social issues, adverse environmental effects, and considerable nutritional consequences, posing a threat to global sustainability.

The purpose of this Issue is to shine a light on the significance of research and practical initiatives engaged in the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, specifically in protecting the planet by promoting sustainability in food production and consumption aiming at informing and influencing policy and practice globally.

This Special Issue invites researchers of any discipline that focus on environmental sustainability assessment throughout the supply chain of food production and consumption.

Dr. Ada Margarida Correia Nunes Da Rocha
Dr. Belmira Almeida Ferreira Neto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainability
environmental impact
sustainable menus
sustainable diets
food waste

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Valorisation of Organic Waste By-Products Using Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as a Bio-Convertor

and

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8345; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158345 - 27 Jul 2021

Viewed by 415

Abstract

One third of food produced globally is wasted. Disposal of this waste is costly and is an example of poor resource management in the face of elevated environmental concerns and increasing food demand. Providing this waste as feedstock for black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) has the potential for bio-conversion and valorisation by production of useful feed materials and fertilisers. We raised BSFL under optimal conditions (28 °C and 70% relative humidity) on seven UK pre-consumer food waste-stream materials: fish trimmings, sugar-beet pulp, bakery waste, fruit and vegetable waste, cheese waste, fish feed waste and brewer’s grains and yeast. The nutritional quality of the resulting BSFL meals and frass fertiliser were then analysed. In all cases, the volume of waste was reduced (37–79%) and meals containing high quality protein and lipid sources (44.1 ± 4.57% and 35.4 ± 4.12%, respectively) and frass with an NPK of 4.9-2.6-1.7 were produced. This shows the potential value of BSFL as a bio-convertor for the effective management of food waste. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Food Waste at a Portuguese Geriatric Institution

Margarida Liz Martins

Ana Sofia Henriques

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Ada Rocha

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2452; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052452 - 24 Feb 2021

Viewed by 550

Abstract

Care institutions attending to older adults are responsible for their food supply, which influences their health and quality of life. Food waste at care institutions has been reported to be a matter of great concern, that requires regular monitoring. In this study, we aim to quantify food waste in the food service of an elderly institution, both as leftovers and plate waste. Data collection was performed over 15 consecutive days, at lunch and dinner served to older adults. The aggregate weighing of food was performed before and after distribution, as well as after consumption. Leftovers and plate waste were calculated by the differences in weight. During the study period, 2987 meals were evaluated, corresponding to 1830 kg of food produced, of which only 67% was consumed. For each meal, approximately 610 g of food was produced per older adult, and only about 410 g were consumed, corresponding to 150 g of leftovers and 50 g of plate waste. Food waste represented 36.1% of meals served, composed of 24.1% leftovers and 12.0% plate waste. The wasted meals would be enough to feed 1486 older adults and would correspond to annual losses of approximately €107,112. Leftovers and plate waste were above the limits of acceptability (below 6% and 10%, respectively), indicating excessive food waste. High values of leftovers are related to the food service system and staff, pointing to the need for improvements during the planning and processing of meals. On the other hand, high plate waste values are associated with consumers, indicating the low adequacy of the menu regarding to older adults’ habits and preferences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Determinants of Food Waste in Family Households in the Greater Porto Area Based on Self-Reported Consumption Practices

Taíse Portugal

Susana Freitas

Luís Miguel Cunha

and

Ada Margarida Correia Nunes Rocha

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 8781; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218781 - 22 Oct 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 669

Abstract

Despite food waste occurring along the entire food supply chain, a significant proportion occurs in domestic settings. Large quantities of domestic food waste have been attributable to consumer behaviors during buying, cooking, consumption, and disposal. The main objective of this research was to understand the major determinants of household food waste from families in the north of Portugal. A convenience sample was used, which was drawn from households in the Greater Porto Area. Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire that included three groups of structured questions related to perceived behavior and attitudes towards food consumption, leftover usage, and food waste. Exploratory data analysis was used to identify underlying dimensions. No relationships were found between socio-demographic data and food waste, buying behavior, or destination/use of leftovers. The majority of the participants reported a high level of planning of their grocery shopping. Fruits and vegetables presented the highest frequency of consumption, followed by sources of carbohydrates and sources of proteins. The storage of cooked food from different food groups presented a single factor, grouping the majority of the individual food leftovers, going from fruits and vegetables to sources of carbohydrates and proteins. The reported levels of wastage of the different food products were grouped into three dimensions: waste of vegetables, waste of protein sources, and waste of sources of carbohydrates. Waste of precooked foods emerged as an independent item, and it was the individual item with the highest frequency. The families studied reported a positive attitude concerning buying, consumption, and wastage, revealing a particular awareness of food waste and its social and environmental impact. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

Open AccessArticle

Driving Forces of Changing Environmental Pressures from Consumption in the European Food System

Philipp Schepelmann

An Vercalsteren

José Acosta-Fernandez

and

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8265; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198265 - 08 Oct 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1156

Abstract

The paper provides an integrated assessment of environmental and socio-economic effects arising from final consumption of food products by European households. Direct and indirect effects accumulated along the global supply chain are assessed by applying environmentally extended input–output analysis (EE-IOA). EXIOBASE 3.4 database is used as a source of detailed information on environmental pressures and world input–output transactions of intermediate and final goods and services. An original methodology to produce detailed allocation matrices to link IO data with household expenditure data is presented and applied. The results show a relative decoupling between environmental pressures and consumption over time and shows that European food consumption generates relatively less environmental pressures outside Europe (due to imports) than average European consumption. A methodological framework is defined to analyze the main driving forces by means of a structural decomposition analysis (SDA). The results of the SDA highlight that while technological developments and changes in the mix of consumed food products result in reductions in environmental pressures, this is offset by growth in consumption. The results highlight the importance of directing specific research and policy efforts towards food consumption to support the transition to a more sustainable food system in line with the objectives of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

A Worldwide Hotspot Analysis on Food Loss and Waste, Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Protein Losses

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Martijntje Vollebregt

Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7488; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187488 - 11 Sep 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1537

Abstract

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is prioritized in UN sustainable development goals (SDG) target 12.3 to contribute to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”. It is expected to significantly improve global food security and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Identifying “hotspots” from different perspectives of sustainability helps to prioritize the food items for which interventions can lead to the largest reduction of FLW-related impacts. Existing studies in this field have limitations, such as having incomplete geographical and food commodity coverage, using outdated data, and focusing on the mass of FLW instead of its nutrient values. To provide renewed and more informative insights, we conducted a global hotspot analysis concerning FLW with its associated GHG emissions and protein losses using the most recent data (the new FAO Food Balance Sheets updated in 2020). The findings of this research are that there were 1.9 Gt of FLW, 2.5 Gt of associated GHG emissions, and 0.1 Gt of associated protein losses globally in 2017. The results of the FLW amounts, GHG emissions, and protein losses per chain link are given on the scale of the entire world and continental regions. Next to this, food items with relatively high FLW, GHG emissions, and protein losses are highlighted to provide the implications to policymakers for better decision making. For example, fruits and vegetables contribute the most to global FLW volumes, but the product with the highest FLW-associated GHG emissions is bovine meat. For bovine meat, FLW-associated GHG emissions are highest at the consumer stage of North America and Oceania. Oil crops are the major source of protein losses in the global food chain. Another important finding with policy implications is that priorities for FLW reduction vary, dependent on prioritized sustainability criteria (e.g., GHG emissions versus protein losses). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Fast Food Restaurant Attributes on Customer Satisfaction, Revisit Intention, and Recommendation Using DINESERV Scale

Se-Hak Chun

and

Ariunzaya Nyam-Ochir

Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7435; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187435 - 10 Sep 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2067

Abstract

The fast food restaurant business is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. International and local restaurant chains are trying to satisfy the demands of customers for a variety of products and services. Along with changing market trends, customers are now becoming more sophisticated and demanding. Customer satisfaction is an essential business issue, as entrepreneurs have realized that favorable customer feedback is key for a long-term sustainable operation. Customers who have an excellent experience at a restaurant may recommend the restaurant to others, spread positive information, or become a loyal customer. The fast food industry has only recently developed in Mongolia and an increasing number of global fast food chains are now entering the market every year. The purpose of this paper is to examine and evaluate the factors affecting customer satisfaction, revisit intention, and likelihood of recommendation for Mongolian fast food restaurants, as well as a global fast food restaurant in Mongolia using the DINESERV scale. This study focuses on comparing directly competing food chains; only two brands were studied because of the limited fast food presence in Ulaanbaatar. Then, it aims to analyze how satisfaction levels influence a customer’s revisit intention and likelihood of recommending a restaurant. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of the difference between local and global fast food brands is a key element that this paper analyzes. Moreover, this paper investigates how results can be different according to whether the respondent resides in Mongolia or Korea and discusses business implications. The results of this paper show that four factors (food quality, service quality, price, and atmosphere of a restaurant) positively influence customer satisfaction, revisit intention, and likelihood of recommendation for Mongolian and global fast food restaurants, and customer satisfaction has a positive influence on customer revisit intention and likelihood of recommendation for both types of restaurants. However, depending on whether it is a Mongolian fast food restaurant or a global fast food restaurant, the factors affecting customer satisfaction, revisit intention, and recommendation are different. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

Towards Sustainable Food Services in Hospitals: Expanding the Concept of ‘Plate Waste’ to ‘Tray Waste’

Nouf Sahal Alharbi

Malak Yahia Qattan

and

Jawaher Haji Alhaji

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 6872; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176872 - 24 Aug 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1103

Abstract

Early debates on the sustainability of food-plating systems in hospitals have concentrated mostly on plate waste food served, but not eaten. This study aims to address the need for more comprehensive studies on sustainable food services systems by expanding the concept of plate waste, to that of tray waste (organic and inorganic materials), through a case study of a hospital in Saudi Arabia. Tray waste arising at the ward level was audited for three weeks, covering 939 meals. It was found that, on average, each patient threw away 0.41, 0.30, 0.12, and 0.02 kg of food, plastic, paper, and metal, respectively, each day. All this equated to 4831 tons of food, 3535 tons of plastic, 1414 tons of paper, and 235 tons of metal each year at hospitals across Saudi Arabia. As all of this waste ends up in landfills, without any form of recycling, this study proposes the need for a more comprehensive, political approach that unites all food system stakeholders around a shared vision of responsible consumption and sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Food Consumption in Nursing Homes: Less Food Waste with the Right Plate Color?

Kai Victor Hansen

and

Lukasz Andrzej Derdowski

Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6525; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166525 - 12 Aug 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1278

Abstract

The problem of unsustainable food consumption among vulnerable residents of nursing homes who suffer from dementia is often multifaceted. From an individual perspective, people with dementia who do not finish their meals are likely to encounter serious health issues associated with malnutrition. Moreover, at the institutional level, nursing homes generate tons of nonrecoverable food waste each year, impairing not only their economic position but also the natural and social environment at large. The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of reducing food waste in Norwegian nursing homes by appraising how large this reduction could be as one replaces traditional dining white porcelain with plates with diverse color combinations. A quasi-experimental method was adopted. The results of the pilot study were extrapolated to the annual amount of food wasted at the national level. The findings indicate that, on average, 26% of food was thrown away when served on white plates compared to only 9% when served on one of the colored plate options tested. Nationally, approximately 992.6 tons of food per year could potentially be saved with only a single change, ultimately ameliorating the unsustainable food consumption problem among residents of nursing homes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Creative Food Cycles: A Cultural Approach to the Food Life-Cycles in Cities

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Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6487; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166487 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 839

Abstract

The new contemporary multi-city needs the landscape as a proactive eco-systemic infrastructure in order to rethink the whole food system, from the design of public spaces to domestic spaces. In this direction, Creative Food Cycles (CFC) is an EU project that, according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addresses the topic of food as a cross-cutting factor and powerful accelerator toward the co-design of sustainability in cities. Design culture today has begun to question and innovate production, distribution, and recycling models of food cycles. In the post-consumption and disposal phase illustrated herein, making the most of food means conceiving waste as a resource for the creation of new sustainable materials or prototypes. The concept of food waste and food losses has been shown to be not only a topic at the center of the debate but also a powerful tool for raising awareness of sustainable development at the community level. The CFC actions shown here were developed with the objective of persuading consumers to change their behaviors, while at the same time exploring cultural and social perceptions. With the aim of making cities more sustainable, this paper describes tools to engage different stakeholders, such as architects, product designers, and citizens, from a cultural point of view. The ongoing research has turned in the end into an educational campaign and an open platform where prototypes, new materials, and products are developed as inspiration for change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Use of the Littoral by Traditional People of Barbados and Bahamas

Brent Stoffle

Richard Stoffle

and

Kathleen Van Vlack

Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4764; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114764 - 11 Jun 2020

Viewed by 729

Abstract

This paper is about the traditional people of Barbados and The Bahamas, in the Caribbean and their sustainable adaptations to the littoral, which included both marine and terrestrial components. Traditional people are defined as having lived in a sustainable way in an environment for five generations, the littoral is described here as an ecological zone at the sea’s edge, which is composed of hundreds of medicine and food plants and animals, and resilient adaptations are understood with the environmental multiplicity model. The analysis is based on more than a thousand site intercept interviews conducted by the authors and their research teams. These data argue that culturally based patterns of sustainable food use and environmental preservation can be understood from generations of successful adaptations of traditional people. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Open AccessArticle

Optimizing the Environmental Profile of Fresh-Cut Produce: Life Cycle Assessment of Novel Decontamination and Sanitation Techniques

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Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3674; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093674 - 02 May 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 819

Abstract

Fresh-cut vegetables, namely those that undergo processes such as washing, sorting, or chopping while keeping their fresh state, constitute an important market element nowadays. Among those operations, the washing step becomes really important due both to the extensive use of water resources and to the utilization of controversial water sanitizing agents, such as chlorine. To ideally eliminate those chlorinated compounds while decreasing water consumption, four novel filtrating technologies (pulsed corona discharge combined with nanofiltration, NF-PCD; classical ultrafiltration, UF; nanofiltration membranes integrating silver nanoparticles, NF-AgNP; and microfiltration with cellulose acetate membranes containing chitin nanocrystals, ChCA) have been proposed to eliminate any contaminating agent in recirculated water. Here, we performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental effects of introducing these new solutions and to compare those impacts with the burden derived from the current strategy. The novel technologies showed a decreased environmental burden, mainly due to the enhanced water recirculation and the subsequent decrease in energy consumption for pumping and cooling the water stream. The environmental gain would be maintained even if a certain amount of chlorine was still needed. This analysis could serve as an aid to decision-making while evaluating the introduction of new sanitizing techniques. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Review

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Open AccessReview

“What a Waste”—Can We Improve Sustainability of Food Animal Production Systems by Recycling Food Waste Streams into Animal Feed in an Era of Health, Climate, and Economic Crises?

Gerald C. Shurson

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 7071; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177071 - 30 Aug 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1371

Abstract

Food waste has been a major barrier to achieving global food security and environmental sustainability for many decades. Unfortunately, food waste has become an even bigger problem in many countries because of supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and African Swine Fever epidemic. Although Japan and South Korea have been leaders in recycling food waste into animal feed, countries that produce much greater amounts of food waste, such as the United States and the European Union, have lagged far behind. Concerns about the risk of transmission of bacteria, prions, parasites, and viruses have been the main obstacles limiting the recycling of food waste streams containing animal-derived tissues into animal feed and have led to government regulations restricting this practice in the U.S. and EU. However, adequate thermal processing is effective for inactivating all biological agents of concern, perhaps except for prions from infected ruminant tissues. The tremendous opportunity for nitrogen and phosphorus resource recovery along with several other environmental benefits from recycling food waste streams and rendered animal by-products into animal feed have not been fully appreciated for their substantial contribution toward solving our climate crisis. It is time to revisit our global approach to improving economic and environmental sustainability by more efficiently utilizing the abundant supply of food waste and animal tissues to a greater extent in animal feed while protecting human and animal health in food animal production systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Production and Consumption)

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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: The economics of soil health on small to medium farms during times of unpredictable change

Author: Joshua Farley, Deb Neher, Katie Horner, et al.

Abstract: This article provides an in-depth analysis of the economics of soil health and their implications for effective policies to promote sustainable food production and consumption, especially in the context of small and medium size farms. The economics of soil health integrates the complexities of agricultural economics and ecological economics, and hence the economics of essential resources in general. We begin by explaining how in a market economy, the price mechanism is meant to allocate resources towards the highest valued commodities then distribute those commodities to those who value them most, which economists define as efficient allocation. We carefully explain why the mechanism fails for both food and ecosystem services. We then explore the role of soil health in stabilizing food production in the face of worsening ecological degradation, and in mitigating that degradation. Small and medium size farmers have frequently been neglected by agricultural policy, so we begin by examining their private motivations to invest in soil health to stabilize production, leading to significant income gains when exogenous shocks decrease output, but simultaneously helping to keep prices lower than they might otherwise be, thus reducing malnutrition. However, we cannot expect farmers to shoulder the costs of providing public goods, and on their own they are likely to underinvest. We therefore examine historic policies designed to ensure acceptable incomes for farmers and acceptable food prices for consumers despite unavoidable fluctuations in agricultural yields, with a specific focus on agricultural parity. We then show how agricultural policies that focus on both food supply and ecosystem health, with soil health as a critical link between the two, can align farmers’ interests with those of the broader public, increasing the sustainability of both production and consumption.

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