Search

Food supply chains hold significant embodied carbon emissions that need to be mitigated and neutralized. This study aimed to explore the historical Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with household food consumption at a local scale i.e. across the eight English regions and the four nations that comprise the United Kingdom (UK). UK EatWell guidelines were used to explore the potential change in emissions and food costs in a scenario of transitions to healthier diets across the study areas. These emissions were calculated based on food consumption data before the advent of the Covid-pandemic i.e. between the years 2001 and 2018. Spatial data analysis was used to explore if the study areas had any significant correlations with respect to the emissions during the study period. The results displayed a potential reduction in GHG emissions for all study areas in the explored scenario. Further impacts include a reduction in household food costs across a majority of the areas during the study period. However, a consistent trend of significant correlations among the study areas was absent. This study concludes that local or regional policymaking should take precedence over national regulations to achieve healthier diets that are both carbon-neutral and affordable for the households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agriculture (UA), the growing of fruits and vegetables in urban and peri-urban areas, may improve food security and access, public health and dietary quality on both a broad and personal scale. However, there is little research on the relationship between UA and diet, and potential mediating factors are also unclear. This study aimed to investigate if proximity to and engagement with UA is associated with better diet quality, and what accounts for this relationship. UK-based adults (N = 583, 69% Female) completed measures of proximity to and engagement with UA, perceived access to fruits and vegetables, health and ethical food choice motivations, connection with nature, psychological distress and dietary quality in an online survey. Participants were recruited from UA-related groups and the general public. Proposed relationships were analysed using a structural equation model. Greater proximity to and engagement with UA was associated with greater perceived access to fruits and vegetables, more health-related food choice motivations, more ethical-related food choice, feeling more connected with nature, and, surprisingly greater psychological distress. Furthermore, proximity to and engagement with UA was indirectly associated with better diet quality via health-, and ethical-related, food choice motivations. While the direct pathway between proximity to and engagement with UA and diet quality was not significant, UA is associated with better diet quality, partly via healthier and ethical food choice motivations. Upscaling UA may have benefits for dietary quality via these factors, and more research is needed to test causal relationships and understand these complex interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we estimated the environmental burden of eating away from home based on emission factors of food recipes consumed in different regions and countries within the United Kingdom. Food based emissions were expressed in kg CO 2 equivalent per capita per week and were calculated based on food consumption data between the years 2001 and 2018. Time series analysis was used to estimate emissions for the years 2019 and 2020 for all study areas. These results were used to estimate the endpoint impacts on human health as well as terrestrial and aquatic species during the study period. Finally, an estimate of the emissions for 2020 was also carried out based on available market data for the first 11 months of the year. This was subsequently compared with the forecasts calculated earlier to observe the impacts of Covid-19 led lockdowns on eating out and hence the emissions. By taking a subnational approach, we aimed to highlight the importance of appreciating similarities and differences among these regions and policy implications thereof. To the best knowledge of the authors this is the first and only study focusing on regional food-based emissions from eating out in the United Kingdom., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)