What is Sustainable Food?

What does 'Sustainable Food' mean?

The UN defines food sustainability as "the idea that something (e.g., agriculture, fishing or even the preparation of food) is done in a way that is not wasteful of our natural resources and can be continued into the future without being detrimental to our environment or health."

Food sustainability hinges on sustainable food systems. These are based on subsystems, including farming, waste management, and supply systems, which interact with trade, energy, and health systems.

Sustainable food aims to avoid damaging or wasting natural resources. It minimises the contribution to climate change as it often means eating more local food which is not transported too far.

Feeding the world’s growing population is no small challenge. But the solutions pushed by big industrial farming corporations, GMOs and toxic pesticides, come at steep costs for the environment and human health.

Achieving food sustainability for the planet is not only up to the agricultural industry or global powers, though. Individual choices also play a major role in the welfare of food systems.

A few examples of tips to incorporate food sustainability into your life are:

·Buy local, seasonal foods – when you can.

·Reduce food waste - plan weekly meals around what you have and use up scraps in creative ways such as potato skin crisps.

·Grow food and experiencing farming firsthand

·Purchase food from local, familiar farms

·Demand greater transparency about the hidden costs of food

·Check labels for sustainably produced items

What are other companies doing to support food sustainability?

Two Raccoons : Two Raccoons is a carbon-negative winery. All of their wines are made from fruit surplus; delicious fruit that would be in the bin if not used. They are tackling food waste and C02 emissions in the fruit supply chain. Their wines have a 1/3 of the C02 emissions of a normal bottle of wine and they are also plastic free!

The Crop Club :?The Crop Club aims to help businesses, homes and communities grow food with eco growing kits that are designed for small spaces. They deliver workshops and talks on food growing, sustainable materials and current global issues. They also upcycle coffee sacks and go to great lengths to source ethical, renewable, recycled and recyclable products which are educational in their own right.

My Emissions : My Emissions combine their expertise in food, sustainability and tech to help existing food businesses understand, reduce and carbon their food. Their overall aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of food.

Surplus To Purpose : Surplus to Purpose is an environmental enterprise which specialises in the interception of surplus food destined for waste. They save edible produce from heading to landfill and put it back on our plates!

Too Good To Go : Too Good to Go are the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. They get the world's largest food brands on board to rethink date labels. '17 countries, 65 million people and 120,000 businesses are saving food on our app.' You can use their app to collect food that's too good to go to waste in your local area- like this one from Greggs!

All of these amazing companies are shining examples of the efforts we can put into aid food sustainability.

What can you do to support food sustainability?

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