Consumer perceptions and preferences | TableDebates

New paper into feral meat eating in Australia

The demand for meat is expected to double by 2050. Projections indicate that expanding the livestock industry to meet this demand would exceed biophysical limitations, dangerously exacerbating climate change and biodiversity loss. This paper uses an anthropological approach to explore an alternative meat source that not only avoids livestock’s pitfalls, but targets introduced pest species that have a history of profound destruction within Australian ecosystems.

Major survey shows Britons overestimate the bad behaviour of other people

This report by Ipsos MORI and the British Behavioural Insights Team (who work on behavioural change and nudge-type policies) looks at how our behaviour is largely influenced by what we think others are doing. The international study based on research from 6 countries (UK, USA, Canada, Australia, France and Germany) shows that people in the UK often overestimate the bad behaviours of other people. It says that British people often think more people are avoiding tax than is really the case, and that they think that more people eat more than the recommended daily amount of sugar than really do.

Shelves of food in a grocery store. Photo by Eduardo Soares via Unsplash.

Taking Stock on Sustainable Diets

In this piece, Jon Woolven provides an industry perspective on sustainable diets and potential ways forward. Jon Woolven is the Strategy and Innovation Director at the food and consumer goods industry research and training charity IGD, and also an FCRN Advisory Board Member.

Vegetables arranged in wooden crates on a checkered table cloth. Photo by Quin Engle via Unsplash.

City Region Food Systems - Part IIIA – Scale and Production Strategy

This piece is the first of a two-part blog looking at scale and production strategy. In this essay, Mike Hamm analyzes critiques of smaller-scale and alternative production strategies from several angles. In the second, he will discuss problems inherent in the argument that small scale can feed the U.S. population and consider a middle path of scale and production diversity. As in the previous posts (Part I, Part II) – he invites your comments, suggestions, and criticisms.This is the third blog-post in his series discussing city region food systems. The series explores the value of city-region food systems, obstacles to their development, and possible ways forward; see Part I for a post which conceptualises the issues and Part II discusses who the farmer of the future will be and how the United States might be fed in 2050.This post is written by FCRN member professor Michael W. Hamm, C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at Michigan State University and Director of the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems. Mike is also a Visiting Fellow of Mansfield College and the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford.

Blog-post: How improving your diet is good for your health and can help tackle climate change

In this post on the Public Health England blog, Alison Tedstone discusses sustainable healthy diets and what such a diet can look like in the UK. It particularly discusses the consumption and production of meat and dairy.

To eat healthy low-income families need to spend one third of their budget according to Food Standards Agency

This joint survey by the Food Standards Agency, Foodsafe and the Consumer Council in Northern Ireland finds that low income families need to spend at least one third of their weekly income on food if they want to eat healthily. This percentage was the result when consumers were asked to select a realistic, healthy food basket that met the family’s taste requirements and included some special food items for visitors and social occasions.

Young Germans increasingly prone to be vegetarians

Germany has traditionally been a country with high meat consumption per capita, but a new study shows that young Germans are increasingly turning to vegetarian diets. The study market analyst company Mintel followed 1,000 people aged over 16 and their results show that nearly one in five (18%) Germans aged between 16 and 24 purchase meat-alternative products. This is comparable to the one in ten (11%) doing the same across all age groups. A major challenge for this trend to consolidate however, is that only 14% of Germans say that they enjoy the taste of these products.

Swedish food retailers promoting climate smarter food choices – Trapped between visions and reality?

This paper explores how food retailers assist consumers to make more climate smart food choices. 17 Swedish food retail representatives were interviewed and retailer websites studied and it was found that food retailers focus on their direct environmental impact as well as on organic food to drive more sustainable consumption.

Policies and actions to shift eating patterns: What works?

This literature review, undertaken by the Food Climate Research Network and Chatham House, and in association with EAT who also kindly supported the work, considers what the evidence has to say about effective ways of shifting people’s consumption patterns in more sustainable and healthy directions.