Swedish Food Habits for Higher Nutritional Value and Lower Climate Impact - Food Retail Portfolio Management
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Swedish food habits for higher nutritional value and lower climate impact - food retail portfolio management Rebecca Johansson Linn Torstensson Degree project • 30 hp Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU Department of Molecular Sciences Molecular Sciences, 2020:30 Sustainable Food Systems Uppsala, 2021 Swedish food habits for higher nutritional value and lower climate impact -food retail portfolio management Svenska matvanor för högre näringsvärde och lägre klimatpåverkan - portföljförvaltning inom livsmedelsindustrin Rebecca Johansson Linn Torstensson Supervisor: Cecilia Mark-Herbert, SLU, Department of Forest Economics Examiner: Fredrik Fernqvist, SLU, Department of People and Society Credits: 30 hp Level: Advanced level, A2E Course title: Master thesis in Food Science Course coordinating department: Department of Molecular Science Course code: EX0875 Programme/education: Sustainable Food System Program Place of publication: Uppsala Year of publication: 2021 Title of series Molecular Sciences Part number: 2020:30 Online publication: https://stud.epsilon.slu.se Keywords: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Private Label Brand, Sustainable Diets, Sustainable Food Consumption, Sustainable Nutrition. 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NO, I/we do not give permission to publish the present work. The work will still be archived and its metadata and abstract will be visible and searchable. Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude and give special thanks to several people who walked alongside with us and guided us through this adventure. The project would never have been possible without our supervisor Cecilia Mark-Herbert who gave us the greatest support and enlightened us with her valuable insights and opinions. Thank you for always cheering us on and all the effort you put into this project, from start to finish. We thank Axfoundation for their incredible knowledge and guidance in helping us create this study and apply the results in the context of a corporate environment. We are truly grateful that they made this project happen. Last but not least, we would like to thank our external supervisors Lovisa Boëthius and Emma Töpel Hanson at Garant for welcoming us with open arms. No matter the challenge, you were always very keen to help and connect us with other valuable contacts within the organization. Thank you for letting us be a part of Garant and through transparency allowing us to collaborate for a sustainable future. Summary In order to tackle climate change and the increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases, a transformation of human diets is urgently needed. The food retailers can play an important role if integrating sustainability related aspects in their corporate portfolio decisions in order to influence the consumer to make more sustainable food choices. This master thesis focuses on dietary habits in the light of portfolio management with guidance from a decision-making tool (Cynefin). If focus on principles to identify food alternatives with lower climate impact and higher nutritional value of dishes that are frequently prepared in a home setting. Their understandings are integrated in portfolio management strategies for sustainable development. It was conducted as a commission from Axfood’s private label brand Garant, which also serves as the case study. The empirical data consists of sales statistics, nutritional guidelines, nutritional content and calculated carbon dioxide equivalents. The results show that commonly consumed dishes exceed goals for climate boundaries and they are nutritionally inadequate. In order to reach targets related to nutritional guidelines and climate impact goals, the content of animal-based products needs to be reduced. Furthermore, vegetables and whole grains need to be increased. The findings of the study provide opportunities to integrate climate and health aspects further in the portfolio management of Garant. Changing dietary habits and integrating sustainability in portfolio management is not a clear and simple road. Rather, it needs to be shaped in accordance to the context of the specific corporation. The results show that integration of sustainability alters the retailer owned brand portfolio management decisions. Sammanfattning För att hantera klimatförändringen och den ökade förekomsten av icke-smittsamma sjukdomar, behöver vi förändra våra matvanor. Dagligvaruhandels aktörer, i synnerhet livsmedelsbutikers handlare kan spela en stor roll om de interagerar hållbarhetsrelaterade frågor i deras företagsverksamhet för att influera kunden till mer hållbara val. Den här masteruppsatsen fokuserar på matvanor i ljuset av portföljförvaltning med guidning av ett beslutsfattande verktyg (Cynefin). Fokus ligger på principer för att identifiera livsmedelsalternativ med lägre klimatpåverkan och högre näringsvärde i maträtter som ofta tillagas i en hemmiljö, och hur dessa kan integreras i portföljhanteringsstrategier. Studien genomfördes på uppdrag av företrädare för Axfoods egna märkesvara Garant, vilket också representerar fallet i studien. Den empiriska datan bygger på säljstatistik, nutritionella riktlinjer, näringsinnehåll och koldioxidekvivalenter. Resultatet visar att maträtter ofta tillagade i en hemmiljö överskrider klimatpåverkansmål och är näringsmässigt inadekvata. För att nå mål i nutritionella riktlinjer och klimatpåverkan, behöver innehållet av animalie-baserade produkter minskas. Vidare behöver andelen grönsaker och fullkorn öka. Resultaten av studien erbjuder vidare möjligheter att integrera klimat- och hälsoaspekter i Garants portföljförvaltning. Att ändra matvanor och integrera hållbarhet i portföljförvaltning är inte enkelt. Istället behöver det anpassas efter den specifika företagskontexten. Resultaten indikerar att integrering av hållbarhet påverkar besluten som görs inom livsmedelshandelns varumärkesportföljer. Popular-scientific summary Food habits in the food retailer industry - for a healthier planet and people Our planet is facing fast evolving climate changes presenting major threats to our ecosystems, different species, food safety and living environments. Additionally, the prevalence of heart diseases, cancer, diabetes type 2 and stroke is increasingly causing premature deaths and major economic pressure on our society around the globe. To turn this situation around, dietary habits need to change urgently. Identification of dishes commonly prepared in Swedish households offers possibilities for marketing, improving or innovating products of a private label brand to influence consumer behavior. Changing consumer behavior is a challenge as it is highly affected by personal and societal habits. Therefore, we identified ten dishes that customers commonly prepare at home, and how these can be used to guide the consumer to more sustainable food choices in the case of a private label brand. In this study, the sustainability focus was on health aspects and climate impact. As a part of the master thesis, the dishes were altered to be in line with the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations and climate impact boundaries set by the WWF. Our study showed that commonly made dishes exceeded goals for climate impact and they were also nutrient poor, which challenges the health of both the planet and people. From a nutritional perspective, the total content of fat and saturated fat was too high. They were also poor in fiber, whole grains, fruit and vegetables. Diets rich in vegetables, fruits, fiber, whole grain contribute to lower risk of heart diseases, different varieties of cancer, diabetes type 2, overweight and obesity. By replacing some of the saturated fat found in for e.g. pastries, animal-based products, ice cream with unsaturated fat from e.g. olive oil, rapeseed oil, nuts and seeds, the risk of developing heart disease decreases. In order to reduce climate impact and improve nutritional qualities in the dishes, animal-based products were reduced or to some extent exchanged to plant-based alternatives. Vegetables and whole grains were also added to increase the nutrient content. To identify the commonly made dishes, we used sales statistics from Axfood’s stores Hemköp and Willys, based on consumer purchases during the year 2019. With sales statistics we could define what the customers bought and, through association purchases, see what kind of dishes they were most likely to prepare in their home settings. The results provided valuable information on customer purchase behavior. Knowledge about what meals customers most likely cook based on their purchases, gives possibilities to influence them to