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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The collective meals market generates significant revenue for the world economy. Food services are responsible for consuming large amounts of water and energy, as well as generating a substantial volume of waste, which is often improperly disposed of. Given the unchecked expansion of food services, the lack of proper management of environmental resources can undermine sustainability principles, posing a threat to future generations. This scoping review aimed to synthesize the existing scientific literature on carbon and water footprints in food services, describing the main methods and tools used and what strategies have been proposed to mitigate the high values of these footprints. The search for articles was performed on 6 June 2024 in seven electronic databases, using MeSH Terms and adaptations for each database from database inception. The search for local studies was complemented by a manual search in the list of references of the studies selected to compose this review. It included quantitative studies assessing footprints (water or carbon) in food services and excluded reviews, studies that reported footprints for diets, and protocols. A total of 2642 studies were identified, and among these, 29 were selected for this review. According to the findings, it was observed that meats, especially beef, contribute more to water and carbon footprint compared to other proteins. Mitigation strategies for the water footprint include promoting plant-based diets, menu changes, and awareness.

Details

Title
Environmental Footprints in Food Services: A Scoping Review
Author
Guimarães, Nathalia Sernizon 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Marcela Gomes Reis 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bruna Vieira de Lima Costa 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Renata Puppin Zandonadi 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Carrascosa, Conrado 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Teixeira-Lemos, Edite 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Costa, Cristina A 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Alturki, Hmidan A 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Raposo, António 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Nutrition, Nursing School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Alfredo Balena Avenue, 190, Room 314, Santa Efigênia, Belo Horizonte 30130-100, Minas Gerais, Brazil; [email protected] (M.G.R.); [email protected] (B.V.d.L.C.) 
 Department of Nutrition, School of Health Sciences, University of Brasilia (UnB), Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil; [email protected] 
 Department of Animal Pathology and Production, Bromatology and Food Technology, Faculty of Veterinary, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Trasmontaña s/n, 35413 Arucas, Spain; [email protected] 
 CERNAS Research Centre, Polytechnic University of Viseu, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal; [email protected] (E.T.-L.); [email protected] (C.A.C.) 
 King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology, Wellness and Preventive Medicine Institute—Health Sector, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia; [email protected] 
 CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal 
First page
2106
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20726643
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3079123495
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.