Sustainability in Foods and Food Production: The Roles of Peer Reviewed Science and Corporate Initiatives

Abstract

There is much current interest in the term 'sustainability' in the production and use of foods and beverages. For food production and processing, sustainability can refer to foods that optimize health, safety, quality, and consumer appeal, as well as reduced inputs of energy, fertilizers, pesticides, and water during production or processing. It can include minimizing waste generation from the food itself or its packaging, reducing emissions, reducing the carbon footprint, humane treatment of farm animals, recycling waste for energy recovery, capturing and using wastewater and rainwater, and pest control with biopesticides rather than synthetics. A number of corporations, such as Walmart, have instituted goals relating to sustainability. This chapter summarizes some recent research into the benefits of implementing sustainable practices, including reduced-risk biopesticides or chemical-free pest control in sustainable systems of food production.The term 'sustainability' is often used in connection with production and use of foods, as with many other products and activities of modern life. In food production, sustainability can refer to optimizing health, safety, quality and consumer appeal of sufficient foods to meet the demands of a growing base of consumers. The present world population of ca 7 billion has resulted largely from increases over the past 75 years, with the estimated rate of growth increasing