Institutions As Conscious Food Consumers

Institutions like schools, hospitals, and universities are not well known for having quality, healthy food. In fact, institutional food often embodies many of the worst traits of our industrialized food system, with long supply chains that are rife with environmental and social problems and growing market concentration in many stages of food production and distribution. Recently, however, non-profit organizations, government agencies, university research institutes, and activists have partnered with institutions to experiment with a wide range of more ethical and sustainable models for food purchasing, also known as values-based procurement. Institutions as Conscious Food Consumers brings together in-depth case studies from several of promising models of institutional food purchasing that aim to be more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and local. With chapters written by a diverse set of authors, including leaders in the food movement and policy researchers, this book: Documents growing interest among non-profit organizations and activists in institutional food interventions through case studies and first-hand experiences; Highlights emerging evidence about how these new procurement models affect agro-food supply chains; and Examines the role of policy and regional or geographic identity in promoting food systems change. Institutions as Conscious Food Consumers makes the case that institutions can use their budgets to change the food system for the better, although significant challenges remain. It is a must read for food systems practitioners, food chain researchers, and foodservice professionals interested in values-based procurement.

Approximately 30 percent of the edible food produced in the United States is wasted and a significant portion of this waste occurs at the consumer level. Despite food's essential role as a source of nutrients and energy and its emotional and cultural importance, U.S. consumers waste an estimated average of 1 pound of food per person per day at home and in places where they buy and consume food away from home. Many factors contribute to this wasteâ€"consumers behaviors are shaped not only by individual and interpersonal factors but also by influences within the food system, such as policies, food marketing and the media. Some food waste is unavoidable, and there is substantial variation in how food waste and its impacts are defined and measured. But there is no doubt that the consequences of food waste are severe: the wasting of food is costly to consumers, depletes natural resources, and degrades the environment. In addition, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has severely strained the U.S. economy and sharply increased food insecurity, it is predicted that food waste will worsen in the short term because of both supply chain disruptions and the closures of food businesses that affect the way people eat and the types of food they can afford. A National Strategy to Reduce Food Waste at the Consumer Level identifies strategies for changing consumer behavior, considering interactions and feedbacks within the food system. It explores the reasons food is wasted in the United States, including the characteristics of the complex systems through which food is produced, marketed, and sold, as well as the many other interconnected influences on consumers' conscious and unconscious choices about purchasing, preparing, consuming, storing, and discarding food. This report presents a strategy for addressing the challenge of reducing food waste at the consumer level from a holistic, systems perspective.

The global food system is the largest segment of the world's economy. As agribusiness-studies pioneer Ray Goldberg suggests, it is also the largest health system on the planet. And it is changing fast. Its size and importance to human, environmental, and economic health means that no system is viewed with as much suspicion by so many people around the globe. Changing societal expectations and scientific and medical advances have made the drivers of the food system--the world's food citizens--realize they must take more responsibility for society's nutritional needs, economic development, and the health of the environment. Goldberg argues that the traditionally commodity-oriented, bargaining relationship between segments of the food system has become win-win, collaborative, and characterized by public and private partnerships. Those who are responding to society's needs are succeeding; those who are not are losing out. The food system's greatest growth area is the developing world, where millions of small-scale producers, workers, and impoverished consumers need help to become part of the commercial food system. In this book, Ray Goldberg interviews the change makers of today's food system: leaders and constructive critics in government, private industry, nonprofits, and academia who provide a panoramic and in-depth look at a revolution in progress.

This book analyses how consumer food choices have undergone profound changes in the context of the economic crisis, including the rediscovery of local products and the diffusion of multi-ethnic food. Corvo argues that a new ecological relationship between food and the environment is needed to reduce food problems such as food waste and obesity.

Why eat with conscience? -- Factory farming : a holocaust in the animal kingdom -- The rotten roots of agribusiness -- Genetic engineering and biomedical research -- A sea of troubled warers : factory fishing and aquaculture -- Beware : You are what you eat -- Power of the plate : eating for a greener world -- Stopping the wasteland -- Change of conscience : actions and solutions.

The critical role of food in contemporary policy, in the UK, Europe and internationally, is explored in a comprehensive and readable account of current issues, including food rights, patenting, safety, aid, choice and poverty. This landmark collection explores the critical role of food in contemporary national and international policy. The contributors represent different professional and academic perspectives. The contributions challenge state, institutional and agency structures and responses to food as a social policy issue. Most of the contributors write from an empirical research base.

1 Communication, Consumers, and Citizens: Revisiting the Politics of Consumption Dhavan V. Shah, Lewis A. Friedland, Chris Wells, Young Mie Kim, and Hernando Rojas 2 The Personalization of Politics: Political Identity, Social Media, and Changing Patterns of Participation W. Lance Bennett 3 The Politics of Consumer Debt: U.S. State Policy and the Rise of Investment in Consumer Credit, 1920-2008 Louis Hyman 4 Working-Class Cast: Images of the Working Class in Advertising, 1950-2010 Erika L. Paulson and Thomas C. O'Guinn 5 What Does It Mean to Be a Good Citizen? Citizenship Vocabularies as Resources for Action Kjerstin Thorson 6 Sustainable Citizenship and the New Politics of Consumption Michele Micheletti and Dietlind Stolle 7 Political Consumerism and New Forms of Political Participation: The Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale in Italy Paolo R. Graziano and Francesca Forno 8 Gender and Generation in the Social Positioning of Taste Nam-Jin Lee, Christine L. Garlough, Lewis A. Friedland, and Dhavan V. Shah 9 The Shifting Sands of Citizenship: Toward a Model of the Citizenry in Life Politics Young Mie Kim 10 Does Changing a Light Bulb Lead to Changing the World? Political Action and the Conscious Consumer Margaret M. Willis and Juliet B. Schor 11 Buying In to Social Change: How Private Consumption Choices Engender Concern for the Collective Lucy Atkinson 12 From Concerned Shopper to Dutiful Citizen: Implications of Individual and Collective Orientations toward Political Consumerism Melissa R. Gotlieb and Chris Wells 13 Examining Overconsumption, Competitive Consumption, and Conscious Consumption from 1994 to 2004: Disentangling Cohort and Period Effects D. Jasun Carr, Melissa R. Gotlieb, Nam-Jin Lee, and Dhavan V. Shah 14 Constructing Sustainable Consumption: From Ethical Values to the Cultural Transformation of Unsustainable Markets Douglas B. Holt 15 The Civic Consequences of "Going Negative" Attack Ads and Adolescents' Knowledge, Consumption, and Participation Ming Wang, Itay Gabay, and Dhavan V. Shah 16 Between Complacency and Paternalism: Ethical Controversies over Influencing Political and Consumer Choice Thomas Hove 17 Consuming Ourselves to Dearth: Escalating Inequality and Public Opinion Lewis A. Friedland, Hernando Rojas, and Leticia Bode

In order to reduce the environmental impact of our food system, which is directly linked to international health and our sustainability targets, dietary-change strategies are a possible solution to overcome this problem. Dietary changes towards more sustainable diets globally are projected to continue in the coming decades, and at the same time are expected to have a positive impact on human health. Our current global challenge is to encourage and support healthy and balanced diets for nearly 10 billion people by 2050. More recently, we have seen the increasing popularity of innovative and sustainable concepts including plant-based ingredients or ingredients from other alternative sources (e.g. algae, single-cell protein, and insects). To encourage the continued popularity of such ingredients, we must develop sustainable, healthy, and balanced diets that incorporate and imitate the sensory experience - taste, and consistency - of familiar products, like animal products for example. Dietary changes to healthier and predominantly plant-based diets will help us to meet our global environmental targets, but these changes need to overcome potential economic (corruption, infrastructure), political (ideology, values), social (technology, lack of community support, social norms), and cultural (tradition, culture, religion) barriers.