Sustainable Development Report 2015

U p d a N t E e W d E d it io n Heart disease and obesity Global demand for meat Livestock 14% globally endemic unsustainable and rising of GHG emissions Quorn 90% less Quorn a sustainable Quorn over 90% saturated fat than alternative to meat lower emissions a meat spaghetti than beef bolognese S ustainable Develop ment Report 2015 "The last year has seen greater attention on the sustainability challenge of meat production and many consumers now desire to eat less meat. During this time we have made great strides to further improve the sustainability of what we do and this is captured in our new report" Kevin Brennan, Chief Executive, Quorn Foods Ltd 2015. 1. Foreword Page 2 2. The Future of Food Page 4 3. W hat Exactl y is Quorn? Page 10 4. The Beneﬁts of Quorn Page 12 5. The Changing Face of F oodservice Page 16 6. Managing Our Environmental Performance Page 20 1 Kevin Brennan, Chief Executive 1 Foreword The last year has seen greater attention on the sustainability challenge of meat production and many consumers now desire to eat less meat. During this time we have made great strides to further improve the sustainability of what we do and this is captured in our new report. The delivery of our mission – to help consumers eat less meat – will significantly contribute towards three global issues around sustainability and health. In our ‘future of food’ review we highlight three now well recognised global issues: 1 2 3 An unsustainable Significant Major health issues increase in environmental associated with over demand for meat impacts from the consumption of meat as populations production of meat – obesity and heart grow in number – at least 14% of disease are now of and wealth. GHG emissions serious concern in coming from most developed livestock.1 economies. Demand for food is growing rapidly, and at the same time the land available is probably shrinking and climate change is making production more uncertain around the world. How ‘‘can we produce enough food for nutritious diets in sustainable ways into the future? Quorn is an excellent example of a different way of thinking: the product has good sustainability credentials, low land footprint and is highly nutritious. What’s not to value about it?” Prof. Tim Benton UK Champion for Global Food Security 2 Sustainable Development Report 2015 The world is going to need many solutions to these “Food is both behind many complex issues. Opinion leaders are now talking environmental and social problems and with increasing clarity about the so-called trilemma, ‘‘a key part of the solution. The current where separating our dietary choices from their food system is the primary cause of impact on both human health and the health of the biodiversity loss, water use and a planet is no longer tenable. We believe that Quorn significant driver of climate change. The system has resulted in unhealthy products offer an effective way to address these diets, obesity, over consumption of issues by providing a healthy and tasty new protein meat, especially chicken, all from a with a low environmental impact. This is highlighted shrinking gene pool. A shift to a in our report. sustainable diet, one that is plant We are also acutely aware of the impact we have based, will not only help our health on the environment. Through partnering with the and preserve diversity, it is also tasty, varied, affordable and a traditional way Carbon Trust and many leading universities we have of eating. The future of food needs to identified the environmental performance of our be grounded in a sustainable diet which products and of our organisation and have drawn up leads to a sustainable food system.” a diverse programme to further reduce the intensity Duncan Williamson of our impact. This report highlights our progress Food Policy Manager – World Wildlife Fund and future plans in this area. We remain proud of the contribution we have made so far and excited by the future possibilities that will help consumers all over the world eat less meat. Kevin Brennan, Chief Executive Quorn Foods Ltd. May 2015 Quorn Foods is the first global meat-alternative brand to achieve third- party certification of its carbon footprint figures. See page 28 for Reference notes 3 2 The Future of Food There are now numerous reports and publications identifying the signiﬁcant global issues relating to the unsustainability of our diet. We particularly want to focus on the three relating to meat production and consumption. 1. Unsustainable demand In 2013, the UK government’s report on food security reinforced the need for a change in By 2050 world population is set to increase to behaviour such that meat is promoted as an over 9 billion, 30% higher than today. In order occasional treat rather than an everyday to feed this larger, wealthier and more urban staple. 4 Meanwhile, as demand begins to population, food production will need to rise outstrip supply, so meat prices will continue by 70%. This means an increase in cereal to rise, placing excessive strain on the supply cultivation of over 1 billion tonnes and an chain and leaving us vulnerable to issues such increase in meat production of over 200 as the ‘horsemeat scandal’. In fact, there is now million tonnes. 2 Much of the increased demand worldwide recognition that this increase in for meat is forecast to come from the Asian demand for meat simply cannot be met. Many markets, with China already consuming more reports are now highlighting that continued meat than either the USA or the EU (Figure 1) focus on intensification of existing agriculture even though its per capita consumption is to provide a solution risks both catastrophic currently only half that found in these markets. 3 impacts for our health and for the environment 5 as well as increasing the Fig. 1 potential for conflict over vital resources such as land and water. The largest meat consumers, 2011 80 Mutton and goat meat 70 Beef Poultry meat 60 s e n Pork n 50 o T n 40 o i l l i 30 M 20 10 0 China EU 27 US Brazil Russia Mexico Japan Vietnam India Argentina Source: Chatham House analysis based on data from FAOSTAT. 4 Sustainable Development Report 2015 2. The environmental impact of meat humans. Currently, 90% of all soyabean meal is used in animal feed with analysts estimating Our understanding of climate change continues that over 40% of global crops are used in this to grow. Recent reports from the IPCC suggest way, representing a highly inefficient use of this a significant deepening of concern with food and the land required to grow it. 8,9 Reports predictions that “nobody will be untouched by also show that over 15,000 litres of water 10 are the impacts of climate change.” 6 In addition, required to produce one kilogram of beef and science is now telling us that agriculture and that if meat consumption continues to rise as food production have a surprisingly important predicted then the amount of water required role within this and represent up to 29% of to grow animal feed will need to double by the global greenhouse gas emissions 7 with the middle of this century. With over 2.5 billion 2014 Chatham House report 1 suggesting people already living in areas of water stress ruminant contributions are at least 14%. W hilst and with global warming predicted to further reductions in emissions are possible, these reduce its availability, conflicts over water are impacts could also increase as demand for expected to become more acute. meat grows, damaging the very ecosystems needed to produce crops for animal feed. In fact, the production of meat from plant proteins is inherently inefficient with huge amounts of grain and crops being used to feed livestock when it could be fed directly to The production of meat from plant proteins is inherently inefficient See page 28 for Reference notes 5 2 The Future of Food (continued) Concern over animal welfare is a major driver of change in dietary behaviour We will also need to fix problems in our global supply chains relating to food waste. The UK and USA between them waste over 55 million tonnes of food every year at a cost of over $200 million. Ironically, 10% of the greenhouse gases emitted by developed economies come from food that was never even eaten and required irrigation and processing water theoretically sufficient for the domestic use of every person on the planet 11 . And with intensive livestock production and extreme pressure on supply chain costs comes growing concerns over animal welfare Intensive livestock production powerfully described by Compassion In World and supply chain pressures are Farming in their recent investigations into the true costs of cheap meat. 5 Research in 2014 adding to animal welfare into the motivations that are shifting the concerns dietary behaviour and meat consumption of UK consumers showed concerns over animal welfare as the number one reason for Our appetite for more and cheaper meat is considering change. 12 also driving a whole industry of chemicals used extensively as fertilisers and pesticides, with concerns that this is altering much of the “Reducing meat consumption, especially from industrial farming, is one of the balance of nature and biodiversity. 5 In addition, ‘‘ biggest things we can do to help tackle whilst some nations are working to restrict climate change and ensure a more efficient and control the use of antibiotics as growth and sustainable food system.” promoters in the production of meat, their Philip Lymbery widespread use has caused many now to talk Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming and of a new era of antibiotic resistant bacteria author of ‘Farmageddon: The true cost of cheap meat’.

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