Food, like most others across this planet, is a world of delight, new surprises, and comfort. And to food enthusiasts, food has long transcended its purpose as a source of nutrition for humans. To most, food is now a form of art, which is not just associated with culinary skills but has the capacity to be retained as beautiful memories, offering us the comfort of revisiting them at our leisure. And as the art it is, food also stimulates all our sensory receptors, making our journey through food not only delicious but one to cherish for all times. And I found this unique passion, chose to make it into my career and travelled the globe to research the sense of human taste to build in the quest to make the practice more sustainable.

As a child, I have always fostered an inquisitive mind, and to feed my curiosity about how things worked, I would often find myself disassembling the toys my parents gave me. Once my curiosity was satisfied, I would effectively reassemble them together. Although not all of my toys lived to tell the tale, they helped me garner an enthusiastic mind and a unique perception of the world around me, which would accompany me to my youth, and leave a lasting impression on my choice of profession. My enthusiastic approach to reassembling the toys would also grant me the determination and persistence I diligently acknowledge in my journey as an Orosensation specialist.

Although not all toys could be restored, they were no impediment to my curious mind. Instead, they allowed me to undertake risks as a professional, and mould them in my favour.

My promising habit of disassembling and reassembling toys as a child encouraged me to take up science as a subject during my graduation as I loved it the most. And it is while working at Kerry Group that, for the first time, I would realize my potential in working in the food industry.

My job at Kerry Group demanded of I manage NPD-related processes from raw materials to the finished product stage. It also encouraged my involvement with the development and application of marinades, seasoning, Coating System etc. Not only would this involvement help me find my true passion, but it would also send me down the path of becoming a budding food expert and Orosensation specialist.

There is a growing global consensus among food system experts that diets and how we source our foods must change. The sustainable nutrition community continues exploring the environmental impact and dietary value of foods. Packaged foods have been largely ignored within the dialogue, and if they are addressed, existing frameworks tend to label them all as “ultra processed” and uniformly discourage their consumption. This approach lacks the nuance needed to holistically evaluate packaged foods within recommended dietary patterns. Additionally, there is considerable diversity of opinion within the literature on these topics, especially on how best to improve nutrition security in populations most at risk of diet-related chronic disease. The crucial role that certain packaged foods can play in helping make such diets achievable and accessible; and the need for actionable guidance around how to recommend and choose packaged foods that consider human, societal, and planetary health. This article summarizes the meeting discussion, which informed the development of a proposed framework based on guiding principles for defining sustainable, nutritious packaged foods across key nutrition, environmental, economic, and sociocultural well-being indicators. Although additional research is needed to substantiate specific metrics in order to operationalize the framework, it is intended to be a foundation from which to build and refine as science and measurement capabilities advance, and an important step toward broader adoption of healthy, sustainable diets.

Action Time – When, Where & How

The food sector currently consumes around a third of global energy consumption and around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions are produced from animal agriculture. At the same time, up to 30% of all food produced is wasted and hunger remains a challenge with more than one in nine people in the world not having access to enough food.

According to our consumer research summarized in the 2021 Change Makers Report, 50% of young people minimize their food waste and 30% actively reduce their meat consumption. This highlights a growing consumer demand for help with changing attitudes for more sustainable eating and plant-based diets.

In our research from the 2019 Better Living Report, one third of consumers said they throw away food because it goes bad too quickly or passes its best before date. This highlights the need to help people find better ways of storing and preparing food, as well as changing their relationship with food.

Our approach

Our aim is to make healthy and sustainable eating desirable, accessible and easier. We will continue to develop preservation and cooking solutions that decrease nutrition loss, and we will join forces with global culinary experts that can further our mission to inspire more sustainable eating.

 We realized that healthier and more sustainable food habits often go hand in hand. This includes nudging consumers to try healthier diets and cooking techniques that help preserve nutrients, as well as reducing food waste. By adopting more plant-based diets and avoiding overeating, for example, we can improve our own health while reducing the burden on the planet and global food system.

Ø Eliminate food waste in every way we can.

Ø Improved experiences for sustainable eating

We aim to promote plant-based eating and enriched taste experiences through connected kitchen and intuitive user interfaces that help consumers discover new meals and cooking methods. We will take this even further by partnering with chefs and experts.

Around 30% of the food we produce globally every day is wasted (FAO 2019), yet there is still much of the world that is undernourished.

Through the lens of sustainable nutrition, we have to be mindful of questions like:

Ø Is the nutrition tailored for the people for which it is intended? Are they over nourished or  undernourished?

Ø Is the food safe?

Ø How was the food produced? How did that production impact the environment, and could there be a better choice?

Ø Is a healthy food realistic for this person to obtain? Can they access it and afford it?

Ø Is food appropriate for the target community’s dietary behaviour, religious beliefs, or local food system?

How can sustainable nutrition be achieved?

Thinking additively when sourcing and producing food is an approachable way to create a more sustainable food supply. In other words, try to embed multiple aspects of the dimensions of sustainable nutrition described above into your core thought process, how you choose the foods you eat (as a consumer), or how you source materials or create new products (as a food producer).

This idea of sustainable nutrition is driving a transformation in food production systems globally. Many companies are embedding this additive thinking into sustainability strategies and commitments. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals serve as the roadmap for many of the sustainability strategies and goals companies are committing to globally.

The UN roadmap goes into detail on specific actions that can help achieve each goal, targets and indicators that can be used as ways to establish industry-specific goals and progress, and in-depth resources on programs that can be beneficial to goal outcomes. Refer to the United Nations page to learn more on the SDGs.

Making Healthy, Sustainable Recipes Which Should be Scalable & Achievable: Path for Future

We conclude with steps needed to realize the benefits of SNPFs in making healthy, sustainable diets achievable and accessible. It is urgent to accelerate efforts across academia, health professionals, governments, and the food industry, given the scale of food systems transformation needed to address climate change, nutrition insecurity, and inequities. Prioritized actions include inform and advance evidence-based dietary guidance, definitions, and policies; catalyse broader industry adoption of foods for healthy, sustainable diets; educate professionals and consumers (including messages targeted at those most at risk) on how to identify these foods; and pursue research to refine SNPF definitions and quantify benefits.

Governing documents like the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) do not include sustainability considerations, despite significant stakeholder efforts and attempts within the 2015 DGA Committee Report. The DGA also do not provide recommendations that distinguish among packaged foods designed with nutrition and sustainability in mind. A commentary concludes that nutritionists and dietitians must educate consumers and help inform food policies, guidelines, and labelling that articulate needed changes—potentially discovering that consumers find concerns about environmental impact more motivating than human health when considering dietary change. Success will require considering packaged foods through a broader lens to achieve equitable access and broader adoption of practical healthy and sustainable diets.

Greater public understanding is needed on eating sustainably. Another commentary states that sustainable foods are perceived as expensive, marginalizing acceptance, and that helping consumers identify and select foods that are affordable and convenient, but still nutrient dense and sustainably sourced, would be more effective than discouraging favourite foods. We agree and believe enabling and incentivizing changes in packaged foods (>50% of US diets) to improve impacts will be more effective than trying to encourage more dramatic dietary shifts. An online UK survey found consumers are engaged with some aspects of sustainable diets but remain resistant to others. Several studies highlight the benefits of educating young people on diets. Thus, filling the “public understanding gap” should include a strong youth component.

A commentary highlights the large knowledge gap on the environmental impacts of packaged foods and beverages. Some research has focused on steps needed to make healthy, sustainable diets effective and accessible at scale; but progress has been limited. Although additional research will drive understanding across all packaged foods, our suggested framework for defining SNPFs can serve as a model as science advances. It will help accelerate adoption of healthier, more sustainable eating patterns by providing actionable guidance on how to select packaged foods that consider human, societal, and environmental health.

Nutrition

We aligned on the inclusion of positive food groups, positive nutrients, whole food ingredients and limited sugar, saturated fat, and sodium as the key indicators to assess nutrition contributions of packaged foods. The nutrition parameters might need to be adapted by food category as is currently done in many nutrient profiling systems, including the National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative, Choices International, and the US Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. For example, a packaged meal could be expected to contribute more positive food groups and nutrients or different limits on sugar, saturated fat, or sodium than a snack. We discussed the appropriateness of processing as an indicator, and agreed that processing was not, in and of itself, a key determinant of the nutrient density or well-being benefits of a food. More important is food formulation, which is a direct indicator for higher fat, sugar, and salt foods. There is so much variety in what is currently considered a UPF that advice to avoid all foods in that category can negatively impact nutrition security.

We agreed that the future of food development should align with the 4 previously proposed domains of improved diet quality —moderation (e.g., the use of new technologies to drive reduction of saturated fat, added sugar, sodium), balance (e.g., the balance of animal compared with plant protein), adequacy (e.g., fortification with nutrients of concern like calcium, vitamin D, folate, fiber), and diversity (e.g., a wide variety of whole food ingredients across the food groups)—and to consider cultural sensitivities and support of regional food-based dietary guidelines in any definition of an SNPF. We discussed the importance of developing foods according to these principles that align with other consumer drivers of food choice (e.g., taste, price, convenience).

As dietary guidance moves toward food-based guidance and away from nutrient-specific guidance, emphasizing whole food contributions via food groups and ingredients in the definition will be essential.

Not only did the world of food entice me to become the person I am today, but it would also lead me to my first Design Thinking & Innovation Workshop in the Middle East, which would recognize me as an Emeritus Scholar. Not only did I love what I did, but it also brought me the promising opportunity to conduct research in the spices system, which would prove to be a crucial steppingstone to becoming an Orosensation specialist.

I am a firm believer in healthy eating habits that will usher us into an era of well-being for generations to come.

I will wait for your comments & feedback.

Cheers,

Ashiwani