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- Reducing food waste in the food service sector as a way to promote public health and environmental sustainabilityPublication . Oliveira, Beatriz; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís MiguelThe global food system makes a significant contribution to climate change, affecting greenhouse gas emissions and other major environmental impacts, along the entire food chain. The present study evaluated the determinants and the consequences of food waste at the food service sector, while considering potential solutions. It takes into account the fact that reducing food waste is an important part of the effort to attain environmental goals and to promote public health.
- Local seasonal foods: a revision on how they impact on sustainable consumptionPublication . Vargas, Alexandre Maia; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Deliza, Rosires; Cunha, Luís MiguelThere is an increasing concern for consumer food sustainability issues along the food chain. As a result, there is an increasing demand for local and seasonal food. The aim of this research was to understand the role of local seasonal foods in enhancing sustainability. To this end, a systematic review of the literature was conducted pertaining to the effects of eating local seasonal food on sustainable consumption, using Scopus and Web of Science databases, in line with the recommendations from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Our findings suggest that the concept of local seasonality provides relevant information to the study of sustainable consumption. After screening over 6,500 documents, 116 studies were analyzed in detail. It is not possible to assume that local food will have a smaller impact than global food simply as it was produced close to consumption. On the other hand, it is not possible to ensure that global food is more sustainable than a local one, considering only a smaller carbon footprint. As an alternative to binary thinking, where “local” and “global”, “local seasonality” and “in season” are distinct from each other, we recommend a systemic view of the food system. This may permit a more complex analysis where food actors may be locally oriented and globally connected. Adopting a holistic concept of “local food” or embracing a “local seasonal food” concept can force methodological approaches that address all the pillars of sustainability, allowing more concrete results for sustainable consumption.
- Individual determinants of food choice in a new decadePublication . Cunha, Luís Miguel; Moura, Ana Pinto deIn recent decades, rapid changes in diets and lifestyles have occurred with industrialization, urbanization, economic development, and market globalization, with those drivers promoting the acculturation process of diet Westernization among other cultures/countries, namely toward upper-to middle-income developing economies, but also in populations having rich and deeply rooted culinary traditions, such as Japan or Southern European countries. Food consumption, in fact, has seen the rise of different and contrasting trends: globalization pushing towards a homogenization of tastes and a standardization of consumption models, and market niches emerging which are characterized by a greater sensitivity to quality, intended as organoleptic properties, healthiness, and respect for the natural and cultural environment of the production territories, and even pushing the boundaries for novel and alternative food/protein sources, with a strong view on sustainability. In the present moment, the world is experiencing great turmoil due to the worldwide pressures and tensions created by the COVID-19 pandemic that force consumers to change their habits and even re-shape the supply chain, creating a global change from farm to fork. Food choice is a complex behavior influenced by many interrelating factors, as consumers are faced with several factors every time decisions about food are made. These factors may be categorized as those related to food, the individual making the choice, and the external economic and social environment within which the choice is made. Within the limitations of dietary domains, the individual food choice is most often concerned with the more immediate aspects, such as sensory attributes, convenience, wellbeing, self-expression, variety, and monetary constraints, i.e., the cost of the product against the income, and sustainability. This Special Issue intends to be the union of multidisciplinary areas of knowledge, in order to understand the main individual food choice drivers, among consumers from different cultures, particularly under the scope of the current factors affecting the food system and shaping food choice during this decade. For this, the editors are looking for high-quality research and practical initiatives which investigate drivers of food choice.
- The role of local seasonal foods in enhancing sustainable food consumption: a systematic literature reviewPublication . Vargas, Alexandre Maia; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Deliza, Rosires; Cunha, Luís MiguelThis article aims to review the current literature pertaining to the effects of eating local seasonal food on sustainable consumption. To this end, we examined definitions of seasonal and local food, the methodological approaches adopted to study the impact of seasonal consumption on sustainability, and sustainability dimensions investigated in journal articles. Highlighting what seasonal and local means, it is crucial to evaluate the effect of the consumption of these foods on sustainability. A systematic review of the literature was conducted using Scopus and Clarivate’s Web of Science database in line with the recommendations from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Our findings suggest that the concept of local seasonality provides relevant information to the study of sustainable consumption. However, for better use of this concept, it is crucial to define what is local. At this point, regulation of labels based on geographic proximity or political boundaries proves pertinent.