In this article, researchers from Cranfield University, UK, examine the environmental burden associated with the production, manufacturing and distribution of potatoes, pasta and rice. The aim of the research is to highlight the difference that can be made to an individual’s environmental footprint (here focusing on water use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) by making dietary changes within food groups, rather than between them.

Surveys show that 300 kg of edible food is wasted per person each year in Switzerland. This paper focuses on one of the foods that are wasted – potatoes – and assesses the quantity and quality of potato losses along the entire supply chain.  It finds that on the way from field to fork, more than half of the potato harvest is lost.

A new report from at Cranfield University suggests that increasing the production and consumption of frozen food in the UK can play a significant role in delivering the government’s 2020 and 2050 food security targets. The report, Frozen Food and Food Security in the UK, was produced by sustainability experts at Cranfield University on behalf of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF).

A life cycle comparison between processed ready meals and their home-made equivalent were published in a special edition of the journal Ambio (Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, vol. xxxiv number 4-5 June 2005). The conclusions are that there's not a lot to choose between the two. The home cooked meal used slightly less energy but generated slightly more GHG emissions (a result of different waste disposal assumptions).