Sustainably Sourced Junk Food? Big Food and the Challenge of Sustainable Diets

Scott, Caitlin

doi:10.1162/glep_a_00458

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…This included consideration of animal welfare, social, and environmental impacts. Analysis of global food manufacturers found that such sustainable sourcing initiatives overlooked the most important factor, that is how to achieve healthy and sustainable diets [ 71 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global supermarkets’ corporate social responsibility commitments to public health: a content analysis

et al. 2018

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BackgroundSupermarkets have unprecedented political and economic power in the food system and an inherent responsibility to demonstrate good corporate citizenship via corporate social responsibility (CSR). The aim of this study was to investigate the world’s largest and most powerful supermarkets’ publically available CSR commitments to determine their potential impact on public health.MethodsThe world’s largest 100 retailers were identified using the Global Powers of Retailing report. Thirty-one supermarkets that published corporate reports referring to CSR or sustainability, in English, between 2013 and 2018, were included and thematically analysed.ResultsAlthough a large number of themes were identified (n = 79), and there were differences between each business, supermarket CSR commitments focused on five priorities: donating surplus food to charities for redistribution to feed the hungry; reducing and recovering food waste; sustainably sourcing specific ingredients including seafood, palm oil, soy and cocoa; governance of food safety; and growing the number of own brand foods available, that are made by suppliers to meet supermarkets’ requirements.ConclusionsCSR commitments made by 31 of the world’s largest supermarkets showed they appeared willing to take steps to improve sustainable sourcing of specific ingredients, but there was little action being taken to support health and nutrition. Although some supermarket CSR initiatives showed promise, the world’s largest supermarkets could do more to use their power to support public health. It is recommended they should: (1) transparently report food waste encompassing the whole of the food system in their waste reduction efforts; (2) support healthful and sustainable diets by reducing production and consumption of discretionary foods, meat, and other ingredients with high social and environmental impacts; (3) remove unhealthful confectionery, snacks, and sweetened beverages from prominent in-store locations; (4) ensure a variety of minimally processed nutritious foods are widely available; and (5) introduce initiatives to make healthful foods more affordable, support consumers to select healthful and sustainable foods, and report healthful food sales as a proportion of total food sales, using transparent criteria for key terms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global supermarkets’ corporate social responsibility commitments to public health: a content analysis

et al. 2018

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“…Whilst sustainable sourcing initiatives can contribute to improving some aspects of the food system, they do not address the bigger issue of encouraging healthy and sustainable population diets [126]. The supermarket CSR policies did not refer to healthy and sustainable diets, which may be because there is not one commonly agreed upon definition [75] or approach to describing the level of sustainability of a diet [127].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Nature and Quality of Australian Supermarkets’ Policies That Can Impact Public Health Nutrition, and Evidence of Their Practical Application: A Cross-Sectional Study

et al. 2019

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Improving population diets is a public health priority, and calls have been made for corporations such as supermarkets to contribute. Supermarkets hold a powerful position within the food system, and one source of power is supermarket own brand foods (SOBFs). Many of the world’s largest supermarkets have corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies that can impact public health, but little is known about their quality or practical application. This study examines the nature and quality of Australian supermarkets’ CSR policies that can impact public health nutrition, and provides evidence of practical applications for SOBFs. A content analysis of CSR policies was conducted. Evidence of supermarkets putting CSR policies into practice was derived from observational audits of 3940 SOBFs in three large exemplar supermarkets (Coles, Woolworths, IGA) in Perth, Western Australia (WA). All supermarkets had some CSR policies that could impact public health nutrition; however, over half related to sustainability, and many lacked specificity. All supermarkets sold some nutritious SOBFs, using marketing techniques that made them visible. Findings suggest Australian supermarket CSR policies are not likely to adequately contribute to improving population diets or sustainability of food systems. Setting robust and meaningful targets, and improving transparency and specificity of CSR policies, would improve the nature and quality of supermarket CSR policies and increase the likelihood of a public health benefit.

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“…In recent years the importance of sustainability in agrifood chains is widely discussed in scientific literature as well as in public (1–3). In these discussions, sustainability is very often reduced solely to ecological factors (4).…”

Section: Definition Of Nutritional Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Sustainability Inside–Marketing Sustainability as an Inherent Ingredient

2019

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Current discussions about the concept of nutritional sustainability show a high complexity of this topic leading to many different definitions. Regarding communication issues of nutritional sustainability between actors of food chains this complexity should be reduced. One opportunity to tackle these challenges of reducing complexity might be the concept of ingredient branding. Therefore, the aim of this mini-review is the identification of conditions for ingredient branding application as a communication strategy for nutritional sustainability which might overcome challenges in communicating the complexity between the different stakeholders of supply chains. In doing so, the specific case of agrifood chains is discussed based on the selected characteristics of globalization, increasing consumer demands, foods incorporating credence attributes and price. Along the agrifood chain, a sourcing strategy reflecting nutritional and sustainable aspects might lead to an ingredient branding strategy implying a brand policy for a special ingredient within the final product which is an important component but cannot be clearly recognized by the user. A “nutritional sustainability inside” strategy should reflect the multifaceted information along the agrifood chain and should be based on standardized criteria for nutritional sustainability.

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Sustainably Sourced Junk Food? Big Food and the Challenge of Sustainable Diets

Cited by 27 publications

References 56 publications

Global supermarkets’ corporate social responsibility commitments to public health: a content analysis

Global supermarkets’ corporate social responsibility commitments to public health: a content analysis

The Nature and Quality of Australian Supermarkets’ Policies That Can Impact Public Health Nutrition, and Evidence of Their Practical Application: A Cross-Sectional Study

Nutritional Sustainability Inside–Marketing Sustainability as an Inherent Ingredient

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