Creating Sustainable Meals Supported by the NAHGAST Online Tool—Approach and Effects on GHG Emissions and Use of Natural Resources

Melanie Speck, Katrin Bienge, Lynn Wagner, Tobias Engelmann, Sebastian Schuster, Petra Teitscheid and Nina Langen
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Melanie Speck: Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy gGmbH, Döppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany
Katrin Bienge: Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy gGmbH, Döppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany
Lynn Wagner: Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy gGmbH, Döppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany
Tobias Engelmann: Institute of Sustainable Nutrition, University of Applied Science Münster, iSuN, Corrensstraße 25, 48149 Münster, Germany
Sebastian Schuster: Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy gGmbH, Döppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany
Petra Teitscheid: Institute of Sustainable Nutrition, University of Applied Science Münster, iSuN, Corrensstraße 25, 48149 Münster, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Every diet has an impact on an individual’s health status, the environment, as well as on social concerns. A growing number of meals are consumed in the out-of-home catering sector, in which a systematic sustainability assessment is not part of common practice. In order to close this gap, an instrument was developed as part of the NAHGAST project. After more than one year of using the NAHGAST online tool, it needs to be assessed what positive environmental influences can be realized by using the tool. For this reason, this article deals with the question of whether an online tool can enable stakeholders from the out-of-home consumption sector to revise their meals with regard to aspects of a sustainable diet. In addition, it will be answered how precise recipe revisions of the most popular lunchtime meals influence the material footprint as well as the carbon footprint. In conclusion, an online tool can illustrate individual sustainability paths for stakeholders in the out-of-home consumption sector and enables an independent recipe revision for already existing meals. The results show that even slight changes in recipes could lead to savings of up to a third in carbon footprint as well as in material footprint. In relation to the out-of-home consumption sector, this results in the potential for substantial multiplication effects that will pave the way for the dissemination of sustainable nutrition.

Keywords: sustainable nutrition; sustainable diet; nutritional footprint; health; environment; out-of-home gastronomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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