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Sustainable food

What you can do - and ask others to do - to help make our food and farming system fit for the future.

Aim to be waste free

In the UK we discard a shocking seven million tonnes of food every year - about one third of the food produced - and a significant amount of this could have been eaten.

Eat better, and less meat and dairy

As hundreds of millions of the world's vegetarians and vegans show every day, we do not need meat and dairy products in our diets.

Buy local, seasonal and environmentally friendly food

Unfortunately, by using pesticides, artificial fertilisers and other intensive farming techniques, industrialised agriculture in this country and across the world is damaging our life support systems.

Choose Fairtrade-certified products

Mainstream global trade often discriminates against the poorest people in the poorest countries.

Select fish only from sustainable sources

Our appetite for fish has increased so rapidly over the past 50 years, matched by the increasing industrialisation of the fishing industry, that we are seriously at risk of losing some species from our seas for ever.

Get the balance right

No-one can have failed to notice that we are facing an obesity crisis. Just over a quarter of adults are already obese, and around three in ten boys and girls (aged 2 to 15) are classed as either overweight or obese.

Grow our own; buy the rest from a wide range of outlets

Only around one in a hundred jobs are now on farms and, for most of us, neither our grandparents nor even great-grandparents were farmers. This means that most of us know very little about how our food is grown.

What is sustainable food?

There is no legal definition of 'sustainable food,' although some aspects, such as the terms organic or Fairtrade, are clearly defined. Our working definition for good food is as follows.

You've got better food, now…

Sustainability is not just about the food you eat. Three areas of special concern are dealt with briefly in this chapter: waste, energy and water.

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Sustainable Food: What you can do - and ask others to do - to help make our food and farming system fit for the future.

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Sustain advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, promote equity and enrich society and culture.

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