Abstract
Food consumption patterns are currently at the heart of sustainability debates globally, with many studies calling for decreases in Animal Source Foods (ASF) consumption. This has been increasingly argued for school meal schemes, considering their sheer size and the fact that by targeting young people they have the potential to enable long-term changes in consumption habits. However, the potential and consequences of dietary transitions away from ASF in school catering services are still under investigation. This work analyses the environmental and cost implications of ASF reduction in school canteens, exploring the possible sustainability impacts of menus based on individual ingredients for a set of Italian schools. We use a mixed-method approach that combines optimisation models, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and stakeholder consultation. The linear programming method is employed here to design four alterative school meal scenarios, starting from the menus currently served (SCB). Scenario 1 (SC1) minimises beef and dairy consumption, scenario 2 (SC2) minimises pig and poultry consumption, scenario 3 (SC3) minimises the consumption of all meat and dairy products, and scenario 4 (SC4) maximises the consumption of pulses. Each scenario is then assessed through a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment approach for key economic (i.e. costs) and environmental impacts (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions). Results suggest that reducing ASF in school food schemes can ensure nutritional quality and at the same time have environmental and economic benefits. The largest benefits accrue when minimising beef and dairy (SC1), leading to a 22% reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) and a 1% reduction in cost per meal. The minimisation of pig and poultry products in SC2 increases the GWP by 2% and costs by 3%, while the minimisation of all meat and dairy products reduces GWP by 12% and increases meal cost by 4% (SC3). Finally, by maximising pulses intake, the GWP per meal decreases by 12% and the cost by 1% (SC4). Overall, food procurement has the highest environmental impact and meal preparation the highest economic impact. Further research should investigate the acceptability of such menus and translate the theoretical findings of our model into more practical day-to-day school meal options.
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Further data can be obtained from the corresponding author upon request.
Notes
We use the word “service” throughout the paper to refer to the process of presenting cooked foods to the individuals who are going to eat it. It represents the step when the food is served to children in the school canteen. We use this term for consistency with similar papers working on this domain (e.g. García-Herrero et al. 2019).
This constraint exists \(\text{for }\forall {x}_{n}\), except for the items: bread, pizza dough, and whole wheat bread. This is because Intercent-ER did not set a minimum amount (in kg) to be purchased for this food ingredient, making it inappropriate to include it in the constraint.
These include several different categories including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polystyrene (PS).
Different waste management practices are followed in the ER region including landfill, recycling, and composting, among others.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all stakeholders that participated in the workflow for their guide and suggestion. In particular we warmly thank Dr. Rossana Mari from the Regional service of innovation, quality, promotion and internationalisation of the agri-food system, Dr. Marina Fridel from the Regional department of public health, and collective prevention, Dr. Cristina Saletti and her team from the Local sanitary service of Ferrara and Dr. Ortensina Guidi from the Regional Agency for the development of electronic markets (Intercent-ER) for their technical support and advice. Finally, we also thank Prof. Giovanni Dinelli from the University of Bologna for his suggestions and comments.
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MP: conceptualisation, methodology, formal analysis, writing. LG-H: conceptualisation, methodology, data curation, writing. FDM: conceptualisation, methodology, validation, writing. MV: conceptualisation, validation, supervision, writing.
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Petruzzelli, M., García-Herrero, L., De Menna, F. et al. Towards sustainable school meals: integrating environmental and cost implications for nutritious diets through optimisation modelling. Sustain Sci (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01346-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01346-9