Sustainable Food Production and Consumption

During the last decades, the world's population has been continuously increasing; consequently, so has the concern about the capability of the current food system for providing sufficient food for the 10 billion expected people in 30 years. Even though this challenge is considered feasible, some changes in the food production and consumption system are needed to achieve sustainability, reduce food loss waste, or contribute to a shift toward global healthier and more sustainable diets. Problems related to these three challenges include degradation of land ecosystems and agriculture practices, greenhouse gases associated with ruminant livestock, overexploitation of marine ecosystems, and the generation and accumulation of residues. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, one-third of world food produced for human consumption is lost or discarded. At the same time, the world needs to create a sustainable food future to feed the more than 9 billion people that are expected to inhabit the planet by 2050.

This book intends to be the union of multidisciplinary areas of knowledge, under the sustainability pillar, based on knowledge about one of the most relevant agents for overall environmental impacts: food production and consumption. Current methods of food production and consumption are imposing a severe burden on the environment and the constituent natural resources. New production and processing methods driven by biotechnology (genetically modified organisms (GMOs), hormones and other growth promoters) affect food safety. Are alternative more sustainable patterns of food production and consumption feasible? This book diagnoses of the challenges and problems facing the current food system to provide for a growing world population while also ensuring the sustainability of the environment. The United Nations sustainable development goals include eradication of hunger. To feed 10 billion persons 2050, we need to get the trade-offs right between sustainability, food security, food safety, and make better use of food already produced. The hierarchy of strategies for reducing food losses and waste are in descending order source reduction, reusing or reprocessing surplus foods, recycle food as feed for animals, recover the energy as biofuels, nutrients as compost, or raw materials for industry, while as last resorts one may consider recovering the energy by incineration or dumping as garbage in landfills. Therefore, the aim of this book is to highlight sustainability assessment within agri-food production, food consumption, and food waste reduction to meet the needs of updating knowledge and developing new skills required by multiple social and economic agents. Food waste implies significant economic losses, ethical and social issues, adverse environmental effects, and considerable nutritional consequences, posing a threat to global sustainability.