However, discussions about food and drink often turn these days to negative aspects such as obesity or anorexia, which are also indicators of stress in modern society. In addition, the consumption of food and drink contributes significantly to environmental degradation.

According to the European Environment Agency, about one third of the total environmental effects of households can be attributed to consumption of food and drink. This is true for Austria. The significance of nutrition for reaching the goal of ecological sustainability is undeniable, as is the fact that the latter will require behavioural changes in the area of food and drink consumption.

Studies show that in Europe the environmental effects (30%) of food and drink consumption are higher than those in other consumption areas, including transport (17%) and housing (7%). If one includes the (strongly increasing) out-of-home food and drink consumption, the proportion increases to 40%. For the next five years the market volume of out-of-home consumption (currently 11.2 billion Euro in Austria) is expected to increase by about 11% and for the next 10 years an increase of 23% is expected (Gastro Obsearcher 2004).

Although the share of household expenditure on food and drink has been declining during recent decades, the consumption measured in calories has been increasing. The general trend shows an increase in meat, fruit and vegetables (especially deep frozen) consumption. There is also an increased consumption of finished or easy-to-prepare products.

These trends are expected to continue with a few exceptions. For example, in Austria the consumption measured in calories could begin to go down as a result of the increasing number of people over 60 years of age. In general the international trends will also be found in Austria. As far as the environmental effects are concerned, both “what you eat” and “where it comes from” are significant.

Sufo:trop - Environmental effects of food and drink consumption
In the Sufo:trop project (www.seri.at/sufotrop) a team at SERI and the University of Graz are carrying out research on the environmental effects (CO2 emissions and material input) of food and drink consumption and relating these to consumer preferences according to age, income, level of education, family type and job. If one considers the entire life cycle of a food item, then it becomes clear that the agricultural production is responsible for the strongest environmental effects. The influence of packaging and of transport are less significant but nevertheless important. Seasonal and fresh vegetables from extensive agriculture with short transport distances and minimal packaging have the lowest environmental effects. This research led to the following definition. Sustainable food and drink consumption entails a preference for: food and drink with high resource effeiciency (e.f. vegetables from the field rather than from the greenhouse); less drinks in bottles; vegetarian or reduced meat consumption; organically rather than conventionally produced food and drink ; regional rather than imported products.

CO2 emissions from food transport
CO2 Emissions due to the transport of food The last point in the above list is the topic of research in a project for the Agrarmarkt Austria (www.seri.at/AMA CO2) called “CO2 emissions of the transport of selected foods”. The aim of the project is to determine using a selected indicator – the CO2 Rucksack – the intensity of environmental effects of certain products. The CO2 rucksack was calculated using the CO2 emissions due to transport of each product and in each case an imported product was compared with an Austrian product. The following pairs of products were examined: apple (South Africa vs. Styria) Strawberry (Spain vs. Lower Austria) Grapes (Chile vs. Burgenland) Tomato (Holland vs. Vienna) Paprika (Israel vs. Lower Austria) Cheese (France vs. Lower Austria) Butter (Ireland vs. Lower Austria) Yoghurt (Germany vs. Lower Austria) Beef (Argentina vs. Upper Austria). The results will be presented in a press confernce on 16th March 2007.

Ecological Footprint
Another significant aspect of global food and drink consumption is the related use of land area. Indicators such as the ecological footprint show clearly that a significant change of lifestyle of those people with high levels of consumption is necessary, if all humans are to achieve a similar living standard (www.seri.at/footprint).

Footprint Matinee
The „Platform Footprint“ invites all those who are interested to a presentation of a new DVD „Footprint - Große Ansprüche an einen kleinen Planeten“ and a new brochure „Footprint – Der Ökologische Fußabdruck Österreichs“ Saturday, 17 March 2007 12:00 - 14:00 Votivkino, Währingerstr. 12, 1090 Wien

Nutrition contributes about one third of the average ecological footprint of Austrian citizens. Especially important is the consumption of meat. The event is designed for participants to learn more about the „four F“ and to meet the authors of both the brochure and the DVD. The organisers include in addition to SERI: Klimabündnis, GLOBAL 2000, Greenpeace, Ökosoziales Forum, Südwind Agentur und WWF.
Weblink: www.footprint.at (in German)

Steps towards sustainable consumption
Behavioural changes of consumers towards more sustainable consumption will require a variety of measures that involve everyone. On the one hand it will be necessary to provide information to citizens about the environmental impacts of particular products and tips on more sustainable consumption.

Examples include the introduction of an environmental criterion in restaurant guides like the Gault Millau, labels for more environmentally sustainable products, for instance showing whether a product was imported on a plane, labels that show the true cost of a product by internalising the external costs, and public information campaigns by NGOs, Ministries or agricultural marketing agencies. Such information campaigns need to be focussed on the relevant consumer groups. On the other hand, economic instruments are needed to support the more sustainable products and increase the costs of less sustainable products.

These would include taxes on transport-, energy- and material-intensive products or financial support for organic and regional products. For fundamental, long-term behavioural changes, human values will have to change. “Eating meat consumes ten times more resources than fruit and vegetables but you don’t have to immediately become a strict vegetarian,” said Fritz Hinterberger in a recent interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau. “If everyone consumed less meat that would be an important contribution.” (See full interview in German at www.seri.at/medien). The importance of “Quality before Quantity” is also the theme of international movements like the “Slowfood movement” that started in Italy (www.slowfood.com) and the star-chef Jamie Oliver (http://www.jamieoliver.com/schooldinners).