Literature Review on Food Sustainability: Key Considerations

This literature review provides a comprehensive overview of food sustainability, examining its various dimensions and challenges. It begins by defining food sustainability and its importance, highlighting the need for a balance between food production and environmental protection. The review explores the imbalance of nutrient sources, discussing the paradox of obesity and hunger and the impact of food quality. It then delves into the food sustainability index, analyzing the societal, financial, and environmental impacts. The review further investigates the differences between farm food and store food, addressing the impact of chemical fertilizers. It also examines the environmental impact of food sources, particularly the effects of protein-rich diets and greenhouse gas emissions. The literature review covers food quality and nutrient adequacy matrices, food availability, affordability, and waste reduction. Finally, it discusses food expectancy matrices and concludes with a summary of the key findings, emphasizing the need for sustainable food development and highlighting the role of the food sustainability index in guiding efforts towards a healthier and more sustainable future. The review draws on a variety of sources to support its arguments.

Running head = LITERATURE REVIEW 0
Literature review
Literature review on Food sustainability
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Executive summary: Food sustainability is an approach for sensible growth and development by
applying innovative agricultural methods along with monitoring and safety of the environment. The
food sustainability is determined by various matrix and food index which are dependent on food
quality, economic conditions, and environmental impact.

Literature review 1
Contents
Literature review..............................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Imbalance of nutrient source...........................................................................................................2
Food sustainability index.................................................................................................................3
Farm food and store food.............................................................................................................3
Environmental impact of food source..........................................................................................3
Food quality and Nutrient adequacy matrix.................................................................................4
Food availability, Food affordability and reduction in food waste matrix.................................4
Food expectancy matrix...............................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
Reference.........................................................................................................................................6

Literature review 2
Literature review
Introduction
Food sustainability corresponds to sensible development that can fulfill the needs of the
present population while keeping under consideration that it does not negatively affect the
possibility for future generation’s capability towards their own needs (Morawicki & Díaz, 2018).
The food sustainability goal is the production of sufficient food to maintain population along
with their nutritional requirements. Factors determining food sustainability are agricultural land,
irrigation water, kind of fertilizer, climatic conditions, and power requirements.
Imbalance of nutrient source
The population explosion and poor food quality along with a shortage of food in most
parts of the world have resulted in a paradox of obesity and hunger, wastage of food and lots of
food. As per the report published in (World Helath Organization, 2018), the world population
falling under the obese category has been approximately tripled since 1975. Till the year 2016,
approximately 1.9 billion people that is close to 27% of the total world population came under
the category of overweight out of which 650 million considered obese. In case of children who
are considered future of the planet close to 40 million under age category 5 years were obese till
2018, and in the age group of 5-19 more than 340 million were under the category of overweight
or obese till the year of 2016 (World Helath Organization, 2018), (Schneeberger, 2019).

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Food sustainability index
The food sustainability index is the understanding of the holistic food approach keeping
the environmental and physiological impact under consideration for future generations (Garnett,
2013). The food suitability index is a collective analysis of the societal, financial and
environmental impact to achieve food sustainability. It generally consists of a collection of data
through different matrixes related to food quality, food availability, food affordability,
appropriate nutrient adequacy, food expectancy and reduction in food wastage.
Farm food and store food
Food products are generally procured directly through the farm or it can be procured from
stores. Food from the farm is generally considered organic food that has been produced free of
any chemical fertilizers, whereas food from stores can be organic or it could be produced using
chemical fertilizers for higher yield. Studies have shown that long term application of chemical
fertilizers has adversely affected soil topography along with the local environment (Savci, 2012).
Recent awareness towards the adverse environmental impact of chemical fertilizers along with
poor nutritional value have shifted the focus on use of organic fertilizers in crop production
which have been helpful for soil microbial fauna along with nutritional value of the food product
(Liu, et al., 2013), (Marzouk & Kassem, 2011).
Environmental impact of food source
The application of a protein-rich diet and dairy product diet has produced a negative
impact on the environment with the production of nitrogenous gases and greenhouse gases. In a
study published by (Westhoek, et al., 2014) it was reported that replacement of 25-30 % animal-
derived products from dietary needs resulted in a 40 % reduction in nitrogenous products, 25-40
% reduction in greenhouse gases emission. In another study reported by (Hallström, Carlsson-

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Kanyama, & Börjesson, 2015) suggested that along with technical advancements, change in
dietary habits is a prerequisite in terms of reducing the threat to the environment produced by
large scale food production for fulfilling the requirements of the current population. It was
reported that a 50 % reduction in greenhouse gas can be achieved along with a reduction in land
use, with a change in dietary habits.
Food quality and Nutrient adequacy matrix
It can be defined as a combination of different chemical and physical interaction which
occurs between the complexes present in food. The functional responses along with health
impact are the implication of these physical & chemical interactions. Food matrix is dedicated to
the improvement of dietary intake and to spread awareness regarding sensible intake of food for
good health (Flores & Kong, 2017) .
Food availability, Food affordability and reduction in food waste matrix
One of the prime factors to achieve food sustainability is making food available along
with affordable for everyone. The pricing of a particular food product mainly depends on the
availability of the food product (Turner, et al., 2018) . It is necessary to achieve food security
that determination and evaluation of local indigenous food supplement for the nutritional needs,
which would help in increasing availability along with affordability (Ghosh-Jerath, Downs,
Singh, Paramanik, Goldberg, & Fanzo, 2019). Food waste matrixes are generally considered in
the hospitality industry to optimize and minimize food wastage (Stenmarck, et al., 2016) .
Food expectancy matrix
The food expectancy matrix determines the quality of food and its direct impact on
human life expectancy. It is considered that the intake of highly processed food and food with a

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high quantity of preservative content could result in health complications (Micha, Michas,
Lajous, & Mozaffarian, 2013). Therefore food expectancy, the matrix is used to determine the
food quality in terms of its impact on life expectancy.
Conclusion
Sustainable food development corresponds to the wholesome development of a food-
producing process which could benefit both the consumers and the environment. The increase in
environmental awareness has pushed the food and agricultural sector towards a more
environment-friendly approach such as the use of organic fertilizer in comparison to chemical
fertilizer. The food sustainability index and the various methods included in it to measure the
food sustainability index are helpful for providing information and direction towards a healthy
and sustainable life.

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Reference
Flores, F. P., & Kong, F. (2017). In vitro release kinetics of microencapsulated materials and the
effect of the food matrix. Annual review of food science and technology, 8, 237-259.
Garnett, T. (2013). Food sustainability: problems, perspectives and solutions. Proceedings of the
Nutrition Society, 72(1), 29-39.
Ghosh-Jerath, S., Downs, S., Singh, A., Paramanik, S., Goldberg, G., & Fanzo, J. (2019).
Innovative matrix for applying a food systems approach for developing interventions to
address nutrient deficiencies in indigenous communities in India: a study protocol. BMC
public health, 944.
Hallström, E., Carlsson-Kanyama, A., & Börjesson, P. (2015). Environmental impact of dietary
change: a systematic review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 91, 1-11.
Liu, C.-A., Li, F.-R., Zhou, L.-M., Zhang, R.-H., Lin, S.-L., Wang, L.-J., et al. (2013). Effect of
organic manure and fertilizer on soil water and crop yields in newly-built terraces with
loess soils in a semi-arid environment. Agricultural Water Management, 117, 123-132.
Marzouk, H., & Kassem, H. (2011). Improving fruit quality, nutritional value and yield of
Zaghloul dates by the application of organic and/or mineral fertilizers. Scientia
Horticulturae, 127(3), 249-254.
Micha, R., Michas, G., Lajous, M., & Mozaffarian, D. (2013). Processing of meats and
cardiovascular risk: time to focus on preservatives. BMC medicine, 11(1), 136.

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Morawicki, R. O., & Díaz, D. G. (2018). Food Sustainability in the Context of Human Behavior.
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 91(2), 191-196.
Savci, S. (2012). An agricultural pollutant: chemical fertilizer. International Journal of
Environmental Science and Development, 73.
Schneeberger, M. (2019). Irx3, a new leader on obesity genetics. EBioMedicine, 39, 19-20.
Stenmarck, Â., Jensen, C., Quested, T., Moates, G., Buksti, M., Cseh, B., et al. (2016). Estimates
of European food waste levels. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
Turner, C., Aggarwal, A., Walls, H., Herforth, A., Drewnowski, A., Coates, J., et al. (2018).
Concepts and critical perspectives for food environment research: A global framework
with implications for action in low-and middle-income countries. Global Food Security,
18, 93-101.
Westhoek, H., Lesschen, J. P., Rood, T., Wagner, S., Marco, A. D., Murphy-Bokern, D., et al.
(2014). Food choices, health and environment: effects of cutting Europe's meat and dairy
intake. Global Environmental Change, 196-205.
World Helath Organization. (2018, February 16). Obesity and Overweight. Retrieved February
28, 2020, from who.int: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-
overweight

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