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Towards sustainable school meals: integrating environmental and cost implications for nutritious diets through optimisation modelling

Towards sustainable school meals: integrating environmental and cost implications for nutritious... Food consumption patterns are currently at the heart of sustainability debates globally, with many studies calling for decreases in Animal Source Foods (ASF) consumption. This has been increasingly argued for school meal schemes, considering their sheer size and the fact that by targeting young people they have the potential to enable long-term changes in consumption habits. However, the potential and consequences of dietary transitions away from ASF in school catering services are still under investigation. This work analyses the environmental and cost implications of ASF reduction in school canteens, exploring the possible sustainability impacts of menus based on individual ingredients for a set of Italian schools. We use a mixed-method approach that combines optimisation models, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and stakeholder consultation. The linear programming method is employed here to design four alterative school meal scenarios, starting from the menus currently served (SCB). Scenario 1 (SC1) minimises beef and dairy consumption, scenario 2 (SC2) minimises pig and poultry consumption, scenario 3 (SC3) minimises the consumption of all meat and dairy products, and scenario 4 (SC4) maximises the consumption of pulses. Each scenario is then assessed through a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment approach for key economic (i.e. costs) and environmental impacts (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions). Results suggest that reducing ASF in school food schemes can ensure nutritional quality and at the same time have environmental and economic benefits. The largest benefits accrue when minimising beef and dairy (SC1), leading to a 22% reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) and a 1% reduction in cost per meal. The minimisation of pig and poultry products in SC2 increases the GWP by 2% and costs by 3%, while the minimisation of all meat and dairy products reduces GWP by 12% and increases meal cost by 4% (SC3). Finally, by maximising pulses intake, the GWP per meal decreases by 12% and the cost by 1% (SC4). Overall, food procurement has the highest environmental impact and meal preparation the highest economic impact. Further research should investigate the acceptability of such menus and translate the theoretical findings of our model into more practical day-to-day school meal options. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Sustainability Science Springer Journals

Towards sustainable school meals: integrating environmental and cost implications for nutritious diets through optimisation modelling

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References (59)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
ISSN
1862-4065
eISSN
1862-4057
DOI
10.1007/s11625-023-01346-9
Publisher site
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Abstract

Food consumption patterns are currently at the heart of sustainability debates globally, with many studies calling for decreases in Animal Source Foods (ASF) consumption. This has been increasingly argued for school meal schemes, considering their sheer size and the fact that by targeting young people they have the potential to enable long-term changes in consumption habits. However, the potential and consequences of dietary transitions away from ASF in school catering services are still under investigation. This work analyses the environmental and cost implications of ASF reduction in school canteens, exploring the possible sustainability impacts of menus based on individual ingredients for a set of Italian schools. We use a mixed-method approach that combines optimisation models, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and stakeholder consultation. The linear programming method is employed here to design four alterative school meal scenarios, starting from the menus currently served (SCB). Scenario 1 (SC1) minimises beef and dairy consumption, scenario 2 (SC2) minimises pig and poultry consumption, scenario 3 (SC3) minimises the consumption of all meat and dairy products, and scenario 4 (SC4) maximises the consumption of pulses. Each scenario is then assessed through a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment approach for key economic (i.e. costs) and environmental impacts (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions). Results suggest that reducing ASF in school food schemes can ensure nutritional quality and at the same time have environmental and economic benefits. The largest benefits accrue when minimising beef and dairy (SC1), leading to a 22% reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) and a 1% reduction in cost per meal. The minimisation of pig and poultry products in SC2 increases the GWP by 2% and costs by 3%, while the minimisation of all meat and dairy products reduces GWP by 12% and increases meal cost by 4% (SC3). Finally, by maximising pulses intake, the GWP per meal decreases by 12% and the cost by 1% (SC4). Overall, food procurement has the highest environmental impact and meal preparation the highest economic impact. Further research should investigate the acceptability of such menus and translate the theoretical findings of our model into more practical day-to-day school meal options.

Journal

Sustainability Science – Springer Journals

Published: Jun 22, 2023

Keywords: Sustainable diets; Life cycle assessment; Life cycle costing; Optimisation model; Sustainable consumption; School food environment

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