scholarly journals Guidance for Healthy and More Climate-Friendly Diets in Nursing Homes—Scenario Analysis Based on a Municipality’s Food Procurement

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4525
Author(s):  
Anne Dahl Lassen ◽  
Matilda Nordman ◽  
Lene Møller Christensen ◽  
Anne Marie Beck ◽  
Ellen Trolle
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Protein Content ◽  
Food Item ◽  
Food System ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Menu Planning ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Increase Protein Content

Reducing the climate impact of food provided for residents in nursing homes is challenging, as the diets for older, frail adults must be high in protein content and energy density while at the same time ensuring that the meals are palatable and recognizable. This study aimed at providing guidance on healthy and more climate-friendly diets for nursing homes in the City of Copenhagen. The goal was to decrease greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) by at least 25% while at the same time providing nutritionally adequate and recognizable menus. First, food purchase data were compiled with datasets matching each food item to a proxy food item and then to databases containing GHGE and nutrient information. Secondly, two diet scenarios were modelled based on current procurement practices, i.e., an energy- and protein-dense diet and a standard protein-dense diet, and converted into guidelines for menu planning. The diets contained less total meat, especially beef, and significantly more pulses, nuts and seeds in order to increase protein content according to recommendations for older adults. Finally, a combined scenario was calculated to reflect the joint climate impact reduction. This kind of innovation in food procurement is required in order to achieve the necessary transition to a sustainable food system.

scholarly journals Scenario Analysis of a Municipality’s Food Purchase to Simultaneously Improve Nutritional Quality and Lower Carbon Emission for Child-Care Centers

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5551
Author(s):  
Anne Dahl Lassen ◽  
Matilda Nordman ◽  
Lene Møller Christensen ◽  
Ellen Trolle
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Food Item ◽  
Food System ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Vegetarian Diet ◽  
Child Care Centers ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Purchase ◽  
Menu Planning ◽  
Dark Green

Public procurement has been highlighted as an important strategic tool to drive sustainable development. The present study aimed at providing direction for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) by 25% for the food purchased by child-care centers in the City of Copenhagen while simultaneously providing nutritionally adequate, affordable and tasty menus. Baseline data were provided by compiling food purchase data with datasets matching each food item to a proxy food item and further with databases containing nutrient and GHGE information. For each food item, the edible amount was estimated in order to evaluate nutritional content and GHGE per 10 MJ. Two scenarios were modeled, i.e., a plant-rich diet and a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet directed at children two to five years old based on current purchase practice. Finally, the diets were translated into guidelines for menu planning. Amounts of pulses, nuts and seeds, as well as dark green vegetables and plant-based fats, were increased substantially in the two scenarios, while animal fat was decreased and the amount of meat was either reduced or eliminated in the plant-rich and lacto-ovo vegetarian diets, respectively. These kinds of changes in public food procurement have the power to significantly affect the transition toward a more healthy and sustainable food system.

scholarly journals How a Transformation towards Sustainable Community Catering Can Succeed

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviana Lopez ◽  
Jenny Teufel ◽  
Carl-Otto Gensch
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Eating Habits ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Animal Products ◽  
Menu Planning ◽  
Governance Model

Community catering or to use another common term especially in the American literature institutional foodservice plays a central role in changing our food system towards sustainability. Community catering establishments can bring about changes in this context at various levels. Hence, in the context of menu planning, they have a direct influence on the level of meat consumption. Indirectly, however, they can also support changes in eating habits by offering the guest an equally attractive alternative, thus giving him or her a sense of how tasty a low-meat cuisine can be. On the basis of this experience, the consumer may possibly change in turn his or her own purchasing behavior and menu planning at home. With the increasing importance of catering for day-care centers and schools, community catering also has a considerable influence on the nutritional status as well as on the development of people’s individual diet and the later eating habits of young people. By understanding socio-technical systems as embedded in ecological systems this paper takes a systemic view on innovations in transformation domains as the objects of desire for governance towards sustainability. The framework developed in the context of the BMBF-funded research project “Governance model for socio-ecological transformation processes in practice: development and testing in three areas of application” known by its acronym TRAFO 3.0 was applied to examine innovative approaches and actors in community catering and their contributions to more sustainable food systems. A number of studies show that a very large environmental relief potential can be achieved by reducing the quantity of meat and other animal products offered. However, the concrete implementation of this goal is associated with a multitude of challenges, since meat-containing meals are an important part of German food culture. How the transformation towards meals with fewer animal products in German community catering can succeed is an important question in the context of the transformation to sustainable food systems. To answer this question, we analyzed the status quo of the socio-technical system of German community catering using a developed governance model. One of the central results was that community catering stakeholders who have successfully reduced their offer of animal products died fundamental changes in meal planning. Cooks had to “reinvent” meals completely to be successful.

scholarly journals To meat or not to meat?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-92
Author(s):  
Louise Beck Brønnum ◽  
Asmus Gamdrup Jensen ◽  
Charlotte Vinther Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Eating Behaviour ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Alternative Protein ◽  
Sustainable Food System

We are facing a pandemic: climate change. In order to sustain a future population with a healthy diet, we need drastic changes in our food systems. With the demand for change both in our eating behaviour and the food industry, this opinion article dives into a currently disputed food resource with regards to climate impact: meat. First, the importance of understanding the dynamic term ‘sustainability’ is stressed. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach, which encounters not only social, economic and environmental factors, but also historical and especially taste aspects, are essential to change the current behaviour, aspects which are often forgotten in the discussion about sustainability. In the light of taste, and in particular the liking hereof, we argue that ‘umamification’ should be part of the consideration in a sustainable food system, which could come from alternative protein sources, such as marine animals or using meat in small amounts as a seasoning rather than not eating meat at all. The sustainable taste should not be tasteless but should be even tastier in the future in order to create a sustainable food system.

Self-operated vs. corporate contract: A study of food procurement at two universities in Manitoba

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-74
Author(s):  
Michaela Bohunicky ◽  
Annette Aurélie Desmarais ◽  
Meghan Entz
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Service Contracts ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
The University

Public institutions are increasingly being pressured to demonstrate how they are meeting their responsibilities and obligations to sustainability. Yet there is little academic research on food procurement at universities in Canada. This article examines issues related to procurement of local and sustainable food at two academic institutions in Manitoba: the University of Winnipeg (UW) and the University of Manitoba (UM). Following Brown et al.’s (2012) call for transformational change, we argue that the experiences at each university demonstrate that a food system transformation can best occur by moving away from corporate food service contracts. The ability to do so is dependent on a number of other factors including, but not limited to: political will of the administration, student activism and support from non-university sectors.

scholarly journals A typology of “infrastructure of the middle” in university food procurement in England and Canada:

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-46
Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Food System ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Transition Theory ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sustainability Transition ◽  
Food Procurement

This article introduces a new term – “infrastructure of the middle”  – and explains how it helps understand how sustainability transition will happen in the food system. The evidence comes from 67 interviews with leaders of university food procurement initiatives in England and Canada. As founder and former president of the civil society organization which played a central role in the Canadian example, I bring a perspective informed by praxis, both as a practitioner and as a scholar applying Sustainability Transition Theory. I adapted the term infrastructure of the middle from Kirschenmann et al.’s concept of “agriculture of the middle”, which describes the midsize farms and ranches most at risk in a globalized food system. Infrastructure of the middle refers to the resources and networks that create a critical mass, enabling mid-size sustainable food producers to meet the needs of foodservice clients, especially public sector institutions.

Disruptive innovation and operationalization in local and sustainable food systems: Examining the University of Toronto-Local Food Plus partnership

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-139
Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
The University

This paper traces the partnership between the University of Toronto and the non-profit Local Food Plus (LFP) to bring local sustainable food to its St. George campus. At its launch, the partnership represented the largest purchase of local sustainable food at a Canadian university, as well as LFP’s first foray into supporting institutional procurement of local sustainable food. LFP was founded in 2005 with a vision to foster sustainable local food economies. To this end, LFP developed a certification system and a marketing program that matched certified farmers and processors to buyers. LFP emphasized large-scale purchases by public institutions. Using information from in-depth semi-structured key informant interviews, this paper argues that the LFP project was a disruptive innovation that posed a challenge to many dimensions of the established food system. The LFP case study reveals structural obstacles to operationalizing a local and sustainable food system. These include a lack of mid-sized infrastructure serving local farmers, the domination of a rebate system of purchasing controlled by an oligopolistic foodservice sector, and embedded government support of export agriculture. This case study is an example of praxis, as the author was the founder of LFP, as well as an academic researcher and analyst.

Sustainable Food Logistics Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaohui Wu ◽  
Madeleine Elinor Pullman
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Chain Management

Food supply chain management is becoming a critical management and public policy agenda. Climate change, growing demand, and shifting patterns of food production, delivery, and consumption have elicited a series of new challenges, such as food security, safety, and system resiliency. This chapter first introduces the typical players in a food supply chain and examines the global food system characterized by consolidation and industrialization. It then discusses some critical topics of the sustainable food supply chain that aim to address these challenges. These topics include traceability, transparency, certification and standards, and alternatives to industrialized food systems, including cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, and roles of small and medium-sized growers in regenerative agriculture. The chapter ends with a discussion of several important emerging logistics management topics, including last-mile delivery, new technology, and cold chain management.

scholarly journals Proposal of a Bioregional Strategic Framework for a Sustainable Food System in Sicily

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1546
Author(s):  
Paolo Guarnaccia ◽  
Silvia Zingale ◽  
Alessandro Scuderi ◽  
Ezio Gori ◽  
Vincenzo Santiglia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Scenario Planning ◽  
Economic Indicators ◽  
Developmental Approach ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Strategic Framework ◽  
Sustainable Food System

The alignment of food systems with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is generally envisaged to make a positive impact on sustainability. This paper outlines some critical environmental and socio-economic indicators for Sicily in order to compare and explore the outcomes of two juxtaposing key drivers in a scenario planning exercise, where the extremities are Industrial versus Regenerative Agriculture/Agroecology and a Proactive versus Reactive government response. The most rational and less risky scenario becomes the most sensible sustainable development option, around which a 2030 vision is projected for a bioregional sustainable food system for Sicily, which is aligned with the SDGs and related policies. To accomplish the 2030 vision, a holistic education-led developmental approach is outlined with a supporting bioregional strategic framework, whose key milestone deliverables are projected through a backcasting process. This paper therefore highlights the importance of consistency and alignment of a development vision with its strategic framework and ensuing implementation, failing which, the holistic bioregional approach is compromised by activities that are shown to negatively impact environmental and socio-economic indicators. For this reason, all public and private sector development plans and associated resources ought to be aligned with a bioregional strategic plan for a sustainable food system for Sicily.

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