Assessing sustainability of household food consumption in rural and urban China

Abstract

Household food consumption (HFC) has considerable implications for sustainability which need to be assessed for effective mitigation interventions. The related extant research focuses on high‐income countries and selected diets, while comprehensive sustainability assessments of HFC in developing and transitional economies remain insufficient. This represents a critical knowledge gap given the rapidly increasing patterns of food consumption in non‐western households. This study conducts a holistic sustainability assessment of HFC in rural and urban China based on the nationally established sustainability assessment indicator system (SAIS) and a comprehensive assessment index (CAI, measured on a scale ranging from 0 to 100 points), as previously detailed in literature. The determinants of overall sustainability of HFC are identified via regression analysis. The results indicate that food consumption is characterized by lower economic sustainability but higher environmental sustainability. 99.5% of households are either relatively sustainable (i.e., in the assessment they score 50–75 points) or relatively unsustainable (25–50 points) while the remaining 0.5% of households are sustainable (75–100 points) or unsustainable (0–25 points). Sustainability has considerable inter‐monthly and spatial variations; it also varies across household income and size. Household income has a significant positive impact (p < .01), while household size, the presence of household members trying to lose weight, and COVID‐19 exert significant negative impacts (p < .1, p < .05, p < .01) on overall sustainability. The study provides a scientifically grounded reference to enhance sustainability of HFC in China. The methodological framework developed and validated in this study can inform the design of future research on sustainability of HFC conducted in other countries and regions.