Opeyemi Opegbemi
Sustainable And Healthy food for All.
Sustainability is defined as the Efficient usage and maintainance of Resources so as to be preserved and Maintained for future generation. Also meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their needs.
The topic of sustainable and healthy food system is on the agenda worldwide. The term ‘Sustainable diet’ encompasses health and environmental aspects of food patterns. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) gives the following definition: 'Those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimising natural and human resources'.
The three P of Sustainability include Profit, People and Planet encompassing (Economy, Society and Environment )
This connects to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), defined by the United Nations in 2015, which is a set of 17 goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. The second goal within the SDGs is related to the topic of sustainable diets. It is focused on ‘Zero hunger’ and includes ‘End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’.
How to grasp the full picture of healthy & sustainable nutrition?
In order to reach the goals and to make the shift to this sustainable and healthy food system, everyone needs to participate. This means governments, private sector, civil society organisations and consumers need to be involved. We see that companies, governments and civil society organisations are looking for ways to tackle the challenge and aim to define the contours of a healthy and sustainable society. However, defining healthy and sustainable food patterns can be a Complex entity.
Meaningful business: Strategic position of products
Facing global sustainability issues and public pressure, it is imperative that companies develop a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of products with respect to environmental impacts and nutrient intake and have identified the weaknesses that contribute most (hotspots). Therefore the countries which classified as developing should help improve their, amount of Skilled labpur so as to be able to efficiently manage their Resources.
The strategic position of products in sustainable and healthy diets depends on the balance between nutritive value and environmental impact. If this is favourable, an increase in the amount of product decreases the overall impact of the diet. Food & supplementary Organisations can also give an indication of how difficult it is to replace a product. Based on this analysis, products and product groups can be placed into four quadrants. A product that is hard to replace and with a positive contribution to the environmental impact of the diet has a strong position, while a product that is easy to eliminate and an increase would imply a worse environmental impact profile has a weak strategic position. Food companies can decide to decrease the impact per unit of product or make foods more nutritious per unit. Decreasing the environmental impact per unit of food product and making foods more nutritious are of clear interest to food and beverage companies. However, methods are required to assess the sustainability performance of foods in a healthy diet. Priorities depend on the context, as dietary needs, dietary habits and the level of development vary between markets.
Sufficiating a right balance between impact and nutrition.
The keen direction to a Fruitious step in making the food system more sustainable and healthy is a clear and comprehensive assessment. Accurate and clear information and data provide the essential basis for this. By looking into the environmental impact as well as the nutritional value of food products sustainable diets can be defined. With the aid of optimization tools the environ can be supported by solving the nutritional and environmental balancing act on a rational basis with local constraints. It can help governments and civil society organisations to define the contours of sustainable diets, which help to formulate policies and foster action in society. Furthermore, it can help companies to determine the position of certain products in a sustainable and healthy diet and define a clear strategy, for instance to decrease the environmental impact of make certain products more nutritious. This means it is possible for all those different stakeholders to come up with evidence-based and realistic solutions to tackle one of the biggest global challenges of today and head for a sustainable, healthy and prosperous future. Thereby creating a free Zone for sustainablity of resources for present and presence of Healthy products.
Opeyemi Opegbemi Thanks.
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