Earlier this autumn, the University of Turku organised a Responsible Food on Campus week to raise awareness of responsible and sustainable food options. The week was organised in collaboration with the University’s Sustainable Campus Life Working Group, the University's nutrition and food researchers, the Student Union of the University of Turku, and campus restaurant operators.
Restaurants Unica, Kårkafé and Juvenes were prominent in communicating the impact of the different choices. Researchers from the Nutrition and Food Research Centre at the University of Turku had produced informative material for the campaign week on more responsible lunch choices, such as favouring vegetarian foods and fish, and reducing red meat and rice.
Researchers have now calculated the impact of the campaign week on the biodiversity footprint of the lunch restaurants.
“Food production is the single biggest contributor to biodiversity loss, so dietary choices really do matter. The biodiversity footprint is a newer measure of sustainability than the carbon footprint and it is used to describe the impact of products, in this case food, on biodiversity loss,” says Doctoral Researcher Aino Tarkkio, who is working on her doctoral dissertation on food choices at the Institute of Biomedicine.
During the Responsible Food on Campus week, replacing rice with potatoes reduced the biodiversity footprint of side dishes in terrestrial ecosystems by around 50 percent. In aquatic ecosystems, the impact was smaller, around 20 percent.
“The result is significant for both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, when the sustainable food choice is as small as swapping rice for potatoes," says Saska Tuomasjukka, Senior Researcher in food resilience at the Nutrition and Food Research Centre of the Faculty of Medicine.
Moving forward based on theme week survey
After the theme week, an extensive survey of 500 people was carried out among restaurant customers. The survey was designed to find out the opinions of the student restaurant customers on the reduction of rice and red meat in the restaurant menu.
“The majority of respondents were in favour of reducing the supply of rice – three quarters were prepared to reduce the supply by half. The majority of respondents were in favour of reducing red meat in lunch restaurants. The surprise was that up to 30 percent of respondents were prepared to completely exclude red meat from the restaurants,” says Aino Tarkkio.
Rice cultivation is almost ten times more polluting than potatoes and the impact of conventionally produced red meat on biodiversity is extremely high.
The results are already being used to plan next year's campaigns. The aim is to harness knowledge to facilitate rapid and effective changes.
“The goal is to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, and at the current rate it is not possible. Why should you know how to choose the most sustainable option? If the customer has given permission, why not let the caterer make the choice beforehand,” asks Saska Tuomasjukka.
Unica and KårKafeerna restaurants participating in the week included Assarin Ullakko, Macciavelli, Piccu Maccia, Galilei, Monttu, Kåren, Arken, Aurum, and ASA.
The Vision 2025 for Sustainable Campus Life at the University of Turku is that in 2025, the University community is committed to the principles and actions building sustainable future in its everyday campus life. Sustainable meals are one of the six key areas of the Vision for Sustainable Campus Life.
