Loading...
4 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
- Challenges of food service towards sustainability beyond food wastePublication . Rocha, Ada; Viegas, CláudiaFood service comprises the production of meals consumed outside the home, including consumers from all age groups and in different sectors, such as schools (from kindergarten to university), public and private companies, the health sector (from hospitals to elderly care institutions), military, sports facilities and restaurants (from fine dining to fast-food). Food service units (FSU) achieved importance and responsibility not only for feeding the population but also as an important setting for public health interventions, potentially educating consumers and modulating behaviors through the meals provided. In addition to its socioeconomic impact, the food service industry has a strong environmental impact. More sustainable food service starts with the basics: minimizing environmental impact by reducing carbon footprint. The food service industry is being encouraged to make choices that positively impact the environment. Nevertheless, most of the efforts and research made in the last years have been focused on evaluating and reducing food waste. This article focuses on strategies that could be implemented beyond food waste, and act on changing the food offered towards health and sustainability while promoting consumer behavior change.
- Promoting healthier and sustainable diets: evidence from the interdisciplinary MedDietMenus4CampusPublication . Viegas, Cláudia; Rocha, Ada; Prada, MaríliaFood service comprises the production of meals consumed outside the home, including consumers from all age groups and in different sectors. This service sector has evolved through the years, providing an increasing number of meals, which have been drifting away from the Mediterranean Food Pattern. Food service is an important setting for public health interventions, educating consumers, and modulating behaviors through the meals provided. Prior research on eating habits has mainly focused on a single stakeholder - typically consumers - and on a narrow set of outcome variables. Although these studies provide important clues about the determinants of adherence to food offers, research has yet to address this issue using an integrative approach of multiple stakeholders (e.g., the consumers, food providers, and decisors) across a set of different variables. Also, intervention initiatives, usually act only on the environment without strategies that efficiently engage all the stakeholders involved. In contrast, to promote behavioral change this research will focus on Social Marketing as it has been acknowledged as an effective strategy to enhance the health and well-being of consumers. Establishing and managing long-term partnerships that include different groups of stakeholders - consumers, government, retailers, and other players - are key elements in the application of mid and upstream social marketing to complex issues. The project’s main ambition is to change the food service paradigm, by creating and implementing a new healthy and sustainable food service concept complying with the Mediterranean diet, as well as solutions that comply with consumers’ new needs, and also developing and implementing strategies that engage all the stakeholders with this concept. We expect to create the reference in terms of food offer that will be demanded by consumers of the next generations and the standpoint to inspire the other food service sectors/ settings to achieve an effective and sustainable food offer change and positively influence food service consumers’ food patterns towards Mediterranean recommendations. In this workshop, the findings of the project will be presented focusing on examining the barriers and facilitators of adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in the menus offered in public high education institutes canteens in Portugal, Turkey, and Croatia. To promote the identification of effective intervention pathways, we take on an interdisciplinary approach, integrating the theoretical and methodological frameworks of Nutrition, Psychology, and Marketing.
- MedDietMenus4Campus: integrating views from nutrition, marketing and psychology to improve dietsPublication . Viegas, Cláudia; Rocha, AdaFood service is an important setting for public health interventions, educating consumers, and modulating behaviors through the meals provided. Social Marketing is one of the strategies designed to promote behavior change, in which contributions to the health and well-being of consumers are widely recognized. This project aims to identify the compliance of food service menus with the Mediterranean Diet (MD) in public high education institutes (HEI) canteens, pinpointing opportunities to intervene, namely: 1) promoting changes in the food offer addressing proximity to the MD, creating, and offering plant-based meals, with seasonable and local food products and 2) developing tailored social marketing strategies to engage stakeholders to encourage healthier and sustainable food habits. It gathers a team comprised of nutrition experts on public health and food service, food technologists, gastronomy experts, psychologists, and marketers. To achieve the objectives researchers will: 1) develop an index to evaluate compliance of menus with the MD; 2) define priority stakeholders and define a methodology for engagement; 3) evaluate perceptions, barriers, and facilitators; 4) develop a meal plan framework; 5) develop a new food concept “student bag” (meal on the go) and test it for industry scale-up; 6) use previous diagnosis to develop social marketing strategies directed to stakeholders and consumers to achieve food behavior change and 7) measure the impacts of the implemented strategies. This research intends to create and implement a new healthy and sustainable food service concept, expecting to define the standpoint to inspire other food service settings to achieve an effective and sustainable food offer change and positively influence food service consumers’ food patterns towards Mediterranean recommendations, while addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (3 - good health and 12 - responsible consumption and production; 17 - partnerships for the goals).
- Strategies for increased adherence to the Mediterranean or healthy diet in university food services: a systematic reviewPublication . Silva, Sofia Sousa; Rocha, Ada; Viegas, CláudiaThe Mediterranean diet (MD) has been recognised as a healthy and sustainable diet model. Despite this, current eating habits diverge significantly from established dietary recommendations, namely the MD among young university students. The eating habits of young people are characterised by a high consumption of energy-dense foods and a low consumption of vegetables and fruit. Thus, university canteen food services are essential in promoting a healthy and sustainable diet. This systematic review aimed to identify the strategies for promoting adherence to the MD and healthy diets in Higher Education food service. This systematic review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Of the 39 studies that were retrieved, all focused on strategies to improve healthy eating, and none specifically used the term "Mediterranean". Studies were conducted in different countries worldwide. Architectural nudges, discounts on healthy food and nutritional information were identified as successful strategies, especially among females and students with higher nutrition education. A combination of nudging strategies in food service is a promising way to promote healthier food habits.