Sustainability Matters – Be Part of the Solution
All-natural, minimally processed, locally grown, and organic are just some of the many terms you’ll see in supermarkets promoting eco-friendly food. While these labels can get confusing, they usually have a common underlying theme – environmental sustainability.
Food production is responsible for almost a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, so what we eat and how it’s grown plays an important role in combating the climate crisis.
What is Environmental Sustainability?
The United Nations defines sustainability as: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” That means using natural resources wisely to protect the ecosystems that sustain human life so that we can live in harmony with animals and plants for many years.
Sustainability means responsibly interacting with the natural environment, including creating less pollution, rehabilitating damaged habitats, and conserving water and energy.
Why Natural Foods and Flavors are More Sustainable
Natural foods include fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, fish, and eggs that humans have not changed or processed. “Natural flavors” are ingredients extracted from natural foods. These ingredients come from plants and animals that, when farmed responsibly, will continue producing food indefinitely.
Artificial flavors, on the other hand, often use non-renewable resources, such as petroleum, as raw materials. Continually extracting these scarce resources from the earth is an unsustainable way of producing flavoring for our food.
Adding synthetic flavorings to everything can create an unsustainable demand for them, which in turn increases the demand for non-renewable resources. Moreover, artificial flavors are usually much more concentrated than natural ones. That means if you eat foods that have been artificially flavored all your life, you may simply not enjoy the taste of natural foods over time.
4 Sustainable Eating Habits To Reduce Your Environmental Impact
- Choose whole foods from local growers
Locally grown food is the most sustainable food, no matter what it’s made of. The fuel it takes to import exotic ingredients gives them a large carbon footprint, and buying them does not support local communities. Farm-to-table eating means you get fresher food with fewer preservatives that can harm the environment and your health. - Avoid artificial sweeteners
A recent study1 found that artificial sweeteners like saccharin and aspartame can pollute water sources and damage aquatic ecosystems. These ingredients largely leave the human body unchanged from their original form, finding their way into our wastewater and staying there for years. Natural, sugar-free sweeteners may be a more sustainable choice. - Reduce your meat intake
Meat production is a leading contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, so eating less of it can help you lead a more sustainable lifestyle. Adopting a vegan or plant-based diet also has many health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol and blood pressure or helping you lose weight. - Choose certified-organic flavors
When you must choose processed foods, look for products that contain certified organic flavorings. These flavors are made from natural ingredients and are not processed using chemical solvents that pollute the environment. The USDA organic seal of approval ensures these ingredients pass strict environmental sustainability tests.
Food sustainability is crucial if we hope to eliminate world hunger and meet the growing population’s demand for healthy food in the future. Choosing natural ingredients from locally grown produce is the best way to reduce your environmental impact and support your immediate community.
Advanced Biotech is a trusted supplier of Natural, Organic Certified, and EU Natural flavorings and aromatics for the food and beverage industry. Please contact us for more information.
1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060115/