Current Concepts and Applied Research in Sustainable Food Processing

Typical sustainability studies concentrate on carbon footprinting and environmental impact assessments leaving the effects of population diet on sustainability largely unknown and untested. In the current chapter we debate the argument that the delivery of sustainable diets presents future opportunities and challenges to processors and manufacturers. In this respect the current chapter will deal with many of the conditions associated with future sustainability of the food processing industry ranging from the design of foods that provide sustainable meal planning, through the alignment of processing and manufacturing practices with policy guidance, all the way to the development of strategic approaches by food companies and the food sustainability policy challenges. To present all sides of the sustainable argument the chapter deals with issues such as sustainable procurement, communication and education in respect of healthy diets and their relevance to processors, sustainable food supply management as well as the effect of food processing on the depletion of our natural resources. Most notably we have presented evidence that demonstrates how food manufacturing and processing companies can assess and report sustainability of products. This evidence demonstrates that an opportunity now exists to integrate sustainability criteria with food manufacturing data and this will result in new marketing opportunities. © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.