Putting power in people’s hands: environmental sustainability of food
On the 2nd of November, we held an event highlighting the work of the Healthy Food, Healthy Planet, Healthy People Centre of Research Excellence. A focus of the event was the launch of ecoSwitch an app that helps consumers choose packaged foods that have a lower environmental impact by simply scanning a barcode.
We were very excited and honoured to have the passionate and hilarious Craig Reucassell as a special guest. He was joined by expert speakers – Bruce Neal, Fraser Taylor, Kathryn Bowen, Rebecca Gilling & Simone Pettigrew. Discussion covered a range of topics including consumer demand for sustainable food, access to reliable information about food sustainability, and the need to set a national framework for food system changes that produce positive environmental effects.
Despite the busy period, over 250 people attended online and in person, sending questions throughout as well as ahead of the event. Time ran out before they could all be answered, so we’ve answered them below.
Watch a recording of the event here.
ecoSwitch and food sustainability: Your questions answered
Q. Do you have any plans to link with the FSANZ branded foods database?
A. We'd be happy to supply our data to FSANZ. The FZANZ branded foods database is reliant on manufacturers supplying their data. We have created a comprehensive database of all brands by auditing products ranged on supermarket shelves.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. The app is a great opportunity for consumers to become more informed and empowered. But what could be done on the part of food producers? How can greenwashing be tackled at the production level as many producers are inadvertently committing greenwashing when trying to compete against an increasingly selective niche of products?
A. We think there should be a standard labelling scheme to indicated the environmental impact of each food. This is our goal - a science-based environmental rating that is applied to all foods - and perhaps down the track, non-foods also.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. What is the stakeholder engagement to get buy in from the Government, National Retail Association, Farmers Federations etc.?
A. Today's event is the first step - to raise awareness and share our ambition. Next, we plan to invite a small number of retailers/manufacturers to join us as foundational partners to develop the scheme further.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. What % of grocery shoppers in Australia care enough about planetary health to follow the App's eco-rating by 2030?
A. We would hope that by 2030 most consumers will care about the planetary impact of many of their activities, including the foods they buy. By then we also hope that environmental ratings will be pervasive and not restricted to our app!
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. One of the biggest causes of environmental impact in relation to food is over-consumption. How often are unhealthy or ultra-processed foods receiving high eco ratings? Could this risk driving further over-consumption?
A. Two questions here. Yes - in general, people eat too much, and the foods they eat aren't so healthy. Currently, our scoring system is mostly driven by the mix of ingredients though we also assign malus points to foods that have a higher NOVA classification - with Ultra Processed Foods (4) attracting the most. We haven't yet analysed our data to explore the relationship between the planetary health rating and NOVA classification.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. It seems like the app isn't available in NZ - is that right? (Philip Coote)
A. That's right - for now. Its been a pretty complex effort and we're only at the first stage (carbon emissions to the farm gate). Our plan is to get a fuller solution going in Australia. If we can get a scheme endorsed by government then that should include FSANZ.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Given the major data gaps that exist in global supply chains, does the labelling scheme risk greenwashing products that simply don't have enough information? (Kate Sievert)
A. Despite the some inevitable data gaps, we are confident that important processes that account for the majority of food system GHG emissions to the farm gate have been included. We plan to enhance our data to account for impacts across the entire supply chain, particularly those that have a higher overall contribution from the processing, transport and retail stages.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. Does the Health Switch app now also contain the Eco Switch app data? Could you please produce some broad suggestions or principles to choose the best healthy and environmentally kind food choices? (Anna Chevalier)
A. There is generally a good correlation between those foods that are good for human health and planetary health. There are some noteable exceptions. Through the CRE we are investigating whether an overall rating that combines human and planetary health into a single rating is plausible and of interest to consumers.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How do you make changes if there are errors in the app (Nikki Field?)
A. Users or brand owners can get in touch via the contact us section in the app.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. So for say a biscuit made in South Africa, would you have a GHG estimate for South African sourced ingredients like sugar, flour and butter (Lisa Te Morenga)
A. No, at the moment we assume global averages for any imported ingredients. There aren't that many imported products and ingredients overall and the additional work it would take to regionalise everything relative to a potential marginal improvement in accuracy is beyond our current resources.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. Has this project being openly working with agriculture and manufacturing industry in Australia in the development of the app in data? (Melissa Cameron)
A. We have used the data we hold on 65,000 packaged foods to derive a rating. This is manufacturers' published data that describe their food's ingredients, nutrient content and country of origin.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How can we use this app for online grocery shopping? (Philip Coote)
A. The app relies on having a barcode to scan - so if the barcode is visible on the online store then yes.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How can manufacturers get visibility on the data that is driving a scoring outcome? And what can help driver a better outcome? Mary Sharma
A. One of the limitations of our data is in estimating the ingredient proportions of a food - which isn't published on the label. We use a mathematical approach to do this which is pretty good, but still an estimate. Our aspiration is to create a system whereby brand owners can update this data along with some specific factors that would impact their rating - though we'll need to find a solution that respects brand-owners' IP.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Is the integrity of the data provided by the labels an issue? (Mary Steele)
A. We need to assume the data on the label is correct. Manufacturers have an obligation to ensure this is accurate.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Does the app risk sending a message that UPF over another is better for the environment (yet is still UPF?)? (Audrey Elford)
A. Our rating system assigns malus points to foods that have higher NOVA ratings - with Ultra Processed Foods (4) attracting the most.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Would be interested to know what proportion of products with low ghge on the app are also healthy? (Sinead Boyland)
A. Thanks for this suggestion. We have carried out some analysis that compares the HSR to the GHG footprint across different products and also tries to recommend feasible switches across different product categories. The work is currently under review.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. What % of grocery shoppers in AUS care enough about planetary health to use this app? (Mark Paterson)
A. I guess we'll see! But the app is something we can do right now - as the first step on our path to creating a standard rating/labelling scheme that would be applied to all food labels.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. What proportion of the market do the environmental cluster make up? (Sinead Boyland?)
A. We haven't estimated this. We have launched ecoSwitch as the first step towards a bigger goal of influencing all Australians towards better food choices for our planet
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Is the rating based on food within a similar group, or is the rating compared to all food? (Tesfaye Feyissa)
A. The ratings apply to all food products across all categories. However, estimates used for similar foods are likely to make them more directly comparable.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. One of the biggest causes of environmental impact in relation to food is over-consumption. How often are unhealthy or ultra-processed foods receiving high eco ratings? Could this risk driving further over-consumption?
A. This is a valid concern - though our rating does apply malus points to UPFs. Also, the ecoSwitch app provides environmental impact based on 100g of food rather than its serving size.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. In order of impact what do you see as the key environmental sustainability risks?
A. Overall, most agree that climate change is the most important issue and within the context of food, meat consumption has the biggest impact on environmental sustainability.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. Why do you define sustainability through the lens of only environmental impacts?
A. Sustainability is indeed much broader than just the environment and should ideally incorporate social and economic indicators. In the public health space, it has become synonymous with the environment - hence the choice in this instance. But I think we should use the term 'environmental sustainability' in the future for more clarity.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. How can we educate consumers to eat less meat?
A. This would ideally be a multi-pronged approach because different consumer segments have different priorities. The evidence is growing about the negative effects of (excessive) meat consumption for both human and planetary health, so ensuring consumers are aware of these effects will be an important part of the mix. This is a complicated task in the face of an active and influential meat industry. The planetary health aspect is a powerful argument because meat products are clearly much worse than other product categories - nutrition is a bit trickier because dietary guidelines recommend some meat/meat substitute consumption and mixed messages are always more difficult to convey that simple, clear messages.
Answered by Simone Pettigrew
Q. I would like to hear about whether there are existing guidelines or consensus on a road map to transform the Australian food system for better sustainability. If not, what are the existing approaches people are taking for this purpose. Thank you.
A. We are unaware of any such guidelines or roadmap around the environmental sustainablity of the food system - and highlighting the importance of food (and beginning such a dialogue) was one of the objectives of this event.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How important is transport? The evidence seems to be evolving :)
A. It really depends on the product being considered. Overall, transport has a limited impact compared to the agricultural production stage for the majority of products. For certain product categories that require cold-chain transport e.g. perishable fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, or products that have low agricultural emissions e.g. certain water-based drinks, transport may account for a significant percentage of emissions. We aim to capture this nuance better in our planned upgrades to more comprehensively cover the entire supply chain. You may want to refer to Crippa et al. (2021) for more detailed figures on the global food supply chain and the relative contributions of different food supply chain stages (URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00225-9).
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. Did you use Australian values to determine sustainability (GWP*)
A. Yes, as far as possible, all Australian ingredients are assigned values that relate to the Australian agricultural system. For imported ingredients and a few domestic ingredients where we had data gaps we assigned global values.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. What is the regulatory framework for this app and how can it be piloted in other countries?
A. The regulatory framework is an interesting question - as in Australia, our initiative likely spans both the Department of Health (food labelling) and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). In principle the approach could extend to other countries. However, this is complicated and high effort and we plan to focus on Australia in the initial stages.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How can we change our food systems? For example a pineapple grown in Vietnam, canned in Thailand and on our shelves in Australia with all the associated carbon emissions?
A. Our food systems are inefficient in many respects driven by historic supply chains and profit incentives. However, higher food miles may not be the most significant issue in some categories. There are several instances where longer supply chains actually have a lower impact compared to locally produced seasonal products.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. How will the tool account for the sizeable data gaps that exist in global food supply chains?
A. At this stage we believe we have included the significant majority of GHG impacts of foods to the farm gate. As we move forwards, we intend to apply and adapt the best available data sources to include processing and supply chain impacts and also other indicators of planetary health (i.e. beyond carbon). The data is constantly improving.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Ultra-processed foods are a substantial environmental risk collectively, but at a per product level represent low risk, so does the tool risk greenwashing?
A. At the moment the app is aimed at helping consumers shift to a better alternative of a similar food rather than shifting diets at a population level. Cumulatively, these individual choices can have a a significant impact and some of our research currently in review strongly supports this hypothesis. The app does apply malus points to UPFs.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. While it is clearly one aspect, how much does food packaging contribute to the sustainability of the food supply (or not), and how would you go about putting food packaging types into sustainably 'categories'?
A. Similarly to transport, the overall impact of food pacakging on emissions (and most other environmental indicators) is significantly lower than what happens during the farm stage for most categories. However, for some foods, particularly those that may have a low agricultural footprints (e.g., potatoes or water-based carbonated drinks) it can still account for a significant percentage of overall emissions and may represent a hostpot for reducing emissions. In fact, in several cases, packaging may even have a positive impact on emissions by reducing spoilage and extending shelf life. We aim to much more comprehensively capture the impact of packaging in future upgrades to account for key properties such as the percentage of recycling, circularity of the package, etc. You may want to refer to Crippa et al. (2021) for more detailed figures on the global food supply chain and the relative contributions of different food supply chain stages (URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00225-9).
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. Was industry involved in the development of this tool? How did they respond?
A. We have developed this initial rating scheme independently, using the data we hold on 65,000 packaged foods to derive a rating. This is manufacturers' published data that describe their food's ingredients, nutrient content and country of origin. We have begun discussing our plans with industry and hope to engage a handful of foundational partners to take this to the next stage.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. What are some practical ways of improving our environmental sustainability of food production?
A. This is a big question and I'm sure many would answer this in several different ways. There are many solutions already available and promising technological breakthroughs in development that can reduce the environmental impact of food production, from the farming stage up to the retail and consumer stage (assuming you also include food preparation in your definition of food production). However, these are dependent on the crop/livestock product in question. Generally speaking, agricultural interventions that increase crop yields and improve feed efficiency in livestock are win-win in terms of profit and environment (not always the best for animal welfare though), and have a strong environmental mitigation effect. You may want to refer to the work by the EAT-Lancet Commission which looked at several key demand- and supply- side intervention to reduce the environmental impacts of the food system (URL: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext)
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. How will the app be promoted to ensure maximum impact for people and planet?
A. Unfortunately, as a not-for-profit organisation, we don't have a marketing budget and rely on owned, earned and shared channels to get our story out - so please share!
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How would you like to see this information being used by local health services?
A. Ideally health services would assess their food procurement processes to prioritise foods with lower greenhouse gas emissions. They can also provide their clients with guidance around increasing the plant content of their diets. The ecoSwitch tool could be promoted to clients as a means of identifying and selecting foods that are better for the planet. Fortunately, food nutritional quality and sustainability are closely aligned, so dietary changes to reduce carbon footprint will have the added benefit of assisting clients to optimise their own health.
Answered by Simone Pettigrew
Q. What actions are required at a government, community and perhaps even individual level to mitigate against food insecurity and the growing cost of the healthy food basket as climate change continues to affect the affordability of fresh foods?
A. Recognising the planetary health impact of different food categories is a critical step in guiding government policies relating to the food system. Fortunately, food nutritional quality and sustainability are closely aligned, so policies designed to address climate change should favour the production of healthier food products. Incentivising the production of lower-emission foods and disincentivising the production of higher-emission foods should increase the availability and affordability of healthier food options. Communities and individuals have an important role to play in advocating for sustainable food systems, and speaking out will be critical in overcoming the powerful industry players with vested interests in the current state of play.
Answered by Simone Pettigrew
Q. What is the sweet spot for healthy people, planet and food at different country income levels?
A. This is a big question, and there is unlikely to be a single sweet spot. Fortunately, food nutritional quality and sustainability are closely aligned, so it is in all countries' interests to move towards more sustainable food systems on both counts.
Answered by Simone Pettigrew
Q. What's the best avenue for health allied providers be involved in this movement and advocacy?
A. The close alignment between food product nutritional quality and sustainability assists with allied health professionals' messaging to their clients. Foods with lower greenhouse gas emissions are better for both human and planetary health. Encouraging a high plant food diet and referring to ecoSwitch as a tool for selecting between packaged foods can provide clients with the information and tools they need to optimise their own health and the planet's health.
Answered by Simone Pettigrew
Q. Please comment on the contribution of methane from cattle (and other ruminant animals) to greenhouse gas emissions and how long pressure from the meat and dairy industry will stall consumer warnings about sustainability of the products.
A. According to the latest statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, in 2021 enteric fermentation (methane) from ruminants accounted for around 37% of the total global emissions from agriculture and 18% of all food system emissions (Source: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GT). As a short-lived greenhouse gas, methane has a significant impact on the climate. Rapidly reducing methane emissions is therefore a very important priority in meeting climate targets and meeting such amtibious global targets can only be achieved through a combination of diet change (a significant reduction in ruminant meat consumption and to a lesser extend dairy) and technologies such as methane-inhibiting supplements that can significantly reduce the amount of enteric fermentation. There is some evidence that both the industry and retailers are aware of these inevitable trends but actual progress has been slow in the face of an active and influential meat and livestock industry.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. Would love to understand data sources for CO2 as these vary by country, region etc
A. We sourced our GHG emission intensities from the seminal Poore & Nemecek (2018) meta-analysis published in Science in 2018. (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216). We do differentiate between domestically produced and imported ingredients and intend to further refine our coverage of different supply chain stages in future iterations.
Answered by Michalis Hadjikakou
Q. What do you think is going to make the biggest impact on the food supply of the future?
A. The biggest impact any of us can make is to reduce consumption of meat and meat products - particularly ruminant-based.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. Will the information underpinning the rating be verified by a third party?
A. We have already published a paper on the methodology underpinning our approach. You can find it here https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652623029748
Answered by Fraser Taylor
Q. How will use of the tool be fed back to industry and policy makers? how many users, products selected, what switches etc
A. We don't have a formal mechanism to share this data with stakeholders. However, the usage metrics will be strongly influenced by the public awareness of ecoSwitch and we are constrained in how much we can promote this beyond our owned social channels, shared channels (please can you share), and any earned media we can generate. I should re-state that the higher objective is to create a rating system that is used across the food industry to provide consumers with environmental sustainability information on their foods much more directly and comprehensively - e.g. through on pack labelling, online shopping, instore signage etc.
Answered by Fraser Taylor
