Unsustainable societal demands on the food system

Abstract

Over the past century, the pace of change in the food system has accelerated. While some of these changes have been beneficial, they have also created significant harms to the environment and the public's health. This chapter describes several of the most critical unsustainable demands that consumers in Western nations place on the food system. Specifically, the chapter considers trends in, and implications of, consumer demand for animal-derived products, convenience foods, nonregional foods, and large serving sizes/food waste. The chapter also provides a model of the key drivers of unsustainable food choices and stresses the importance of comprehensive policy reforms to create needed change.