Pesticide Toxicity Footprints of Australian Dietary Choices

Abstract

Pesticides are widely used in food production, yet the potential harm associated with their emission into the environment is rarely considered in the context of sustainable diets. In this study, a life cycle assessment was used to quantify the freshwater ecotoxicity, human toxicity carcinogenic effects, and human toxicity noncarcinogenic effects associated with pesticide use in relation to 9341 individual Australian adult daily diets. The three environmental indicators were also combined into a pesticide toxicity footprint, and a diet quality score was applied to each diet. Energy-dense and nutrient-poor discretionary foods, fruits, and protein-rich foods were the sources of most of the dietary pesticide impacts. Problematically, a dietary shift toward recommended diets was found to increase the pesticide toxicity footprint compared to the current average diet. Using a quadrant analysis, a recommended diet was identified with a 38% lower pesticide toxicity footprint. This was achieved mainly through a reduction in the discretionary food intake and by limiting the choice of fresh fruits. As the latter contradicts dietary recommendations to eat a variety of fruits of different types and colors, we concluded that dietary change may not be the best approach to lowering the environmental impacts of pesticides in the food system. Instead, targeted action in the horticultural industry may be more effective. Consumers might encourage this transition by supporting growers that reduce pesticide use and apply less environmentally harmful active ingredients.

Towards healthier and more sustainable diets in the Australian context: comparison of current diets with the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet

“…Evidence is emerging around the health implications of overconsuming ultra-processed foods [ 48 , 51 ] and evidence is also starting to emerge around the environmental impacts of discretionary, ultra-processed foods and beverages. Discretionary foods and beverages have been estimated to account for 28–34% of diet-related climate [ 34 ], water [ 35 ], cropland [ 36 ] and pesticide [ 52 ] footprints of the Australian diets. It is also important to consider the opportunity cost of processing and consuming these foods.…”

Diets with Higher Vegetable Intake and Lower Environmental Impact: Evidence from a Large Australian Population Health Survey

“…Environmental data for individual foods within the Australian food system were obtained from previous studies. These data, derived from life-cycle assessments, included the water-scarcity footprint [ 57 ], climate footprint [ 54 ], cropland-scarcity footprint [ 53 ], and pesticide-toxicity footprint [ 55 ].…”

“…The original environmental impact score [ 59 ] included three environmental aspects, namely climate impact, water-scarcity impact, and cropland-scarcity impact, based on data available at that time for individual foods in the Australian food system. The environmental impact score used in this study also integrated pesticide-toxicity data that became recently available [ 55 ] using weighting factors presented in Supplementary Table S1 . Details of the method used to combine the different environmental indicators into a combined score are presented in the associated reference [ 59 ].…”

“…In previous research, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) was used to characterize the environmental impacts for 9341 individual Australian adult daily diets obtained from the Australian Health Survey [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. Using this data resource, we examined a subgroup of Australian adult diets characterized by a higher diet-quality score and a lower environmental impact score.…”

The importance of protein variety in a higher quality and lower environmental impact dietary pattern

“…Briefly, diet quality was assessed using the Diet Quality Index of Golley and Hendrie (34) . Environmental impact was assessed using currently available life cycle assessment results for food items in the Australian food system (32,(35)(36)(37) . Detailed information about the data, equations and modelling assumptions is available in the associated references.…”