Suvi Virtanen, Research Professor, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, at Europe That Protects - Safeguarding Our Planet, Safeguarding Our Health EU side event, 3-4 Dec 2019, THL, Helsinki

1. Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Transformation of food system for better health
Human and planetary health
Suvi M. Virtanen

2. Food systems can be thought of as “all the elements
(environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures,
institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production,
processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of
food.”
The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on
World Food Security. Rome, 2017

3. Planetary boundaries and food system
Mass production of meat & dairy products & ultra-processed foods key driver of:
• Climate change
• Food systems responsible for 26-30% of carbon footprint
• Climate change threatens food security (amount and quality of foods)
• Biodiversity loss
• Planetary health, longterm human health
• Just 3 crops provide over 50% of energy from plants, 5 livestock species account 95% of total meat
• Land use change
• Land demand for agriculture increasing
• Of arable land 45% used to produce food directly for human consumption, 33% to feed animals
and 12% to grow crops for biofuels etc.
• Biogeochemical cycles
• Nitrogen & phoshorus flow from agriculture and industry to bioshere and waters
• Overuse of fresh water
• Animal products have higher water footprints, also some plants e.g. coffee, rice
Willett et al. 2019, Sarlio 2018, Swinburn et al. 2019

4. Sustainable and healthy diets
Planet
PeoplePlates
Acting within
planetary
boundaries
Global justice &
food security
Nutritional quality & safety
Social & cultural
acceptability
Health & well-being
Sarlio S. Towards Healthy and
Sustainable Diets. 2018

5. Recommendations to decrease chronic disease
burden and to prevent obesity
- Most dietary guidelines are in line with dietary changes needed for environmentally sustainable
diet
- Potential conflict regarding fish & seafood, dairy and sugar
- Do people maintain nutritional balance when altering diet to a more sustainable one?
→ Good possibilities to eat nutritionally adequate and varied diets in a sustainable way
Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2012

6. Reductions in premature mortality in 2030 from shifts to Nordic
dietary recommendations or the EAT-Lancet dietary targets
Stockholm Resilience Centre Report 2019;
EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food
systems 2019; Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2012

7. The burden of malnutrition in all its forms:
contribution to disability-adjusted life years lost (DALYs)
Swinburn et al. The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report 2019
WASH=Water, sanitation, hygiene
Low sociodevelopmental index countries
High sociodevelopmental index countries

8. The burden of malnutrition in all its forms:
contribution to disability-adjusted life years lost (DALYs)
Swinburn et al. The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report 2019
WASH=Water, sanitation, hygiene
Low sociodevelopmental index countries
High sociodevelopmental index countries
Obesity,
undernutrition and
climate change
have multiple
common causes
and mitigating
actions

9. Climate impact of Nordic diets in comparison with average diets of
low-, middle- and high-income countries
Stockholm Resilience Centre Report 2019
Food systems including food waste contribute 30% to the greenhouse gas emissions.

10. Land use per day according to the 6 diets, broken down into 7 food groups
m2*year/day
Van Dooren et al. Food Policy 2014

11. Finnish food catering services reach most and
decrease inequality
Public sector offers about 420 million meals per year
 All pupils at pre-school and comprehensive school are offered
a free meal every school day
 Students at different school levels are offered a free or
subsidized meal every working day
 At worksite canteens 70 million meals are served yearly (incl.
private sector)
 In addition catering services for example for elderly, for
hospitals and for prisons

12. Catering services in Finland - effective tool for nutrition policy
• Provide a model for healthy eating and food education
• Based on food level recommendations, in which increasingly environmental
sustainability is considered
• Public food procurement have big effects on both human health and
environment
• Criteria for nutritional quality given for procurement of food catering
services
• Equality of food catering services is based on several laws

13. Many actors promote healthy and sustainable diet
through reformulation and by developing catering
More than 60 commitments by food industry, retails,
communities, organizations

14. Conclusions
1. Large, urgent changes in food system are needed
2. Best changes involve many people: food catering services
3. Influencing during whole life cycle, early intervention most efficient
4. Global perspective: combining prevention of obesity, NCDs, undernutrition and climate
change
5. Combining health and sustainability in all policies
6. Nordic roadmap on healthy and sustainable food system under development (Stockholm
Resilience Centre)
7. The dietary change would revolutionize the agricultural and food sector (FoodMin project,
Saarinen M et al. 2019)
• total income impact on food sector and agriculture may remain the same
• new value chains and investments for the production of plant-based foods required
• support from public sector through strategic goals and instruments needed

15. Nature step for well-being
More nature contacts,
special attention to positive
experiences
Minimizing food
loss and utilizing
food waste locally
Urban gardening
Green walls
Compost
Wondering,
learning,
asking,
enjoying
Respecting
nature
A strong
connection
to natureVegetable-based diet
and sensory based food
education (Sapere)
Co-development with all the stakeholders!

17. Average greenhouse gas emissions (CO2-eq/kg)
Low < 1 Medium 1-4 High 4-15 Very high >15
Animal-based
foods
Most fish, eggs, milk,
yoghurt, honey, insects
Pork, poultry,
rabbit, kangaroo,
shrimps, mussels,
cheese, cream,
butter, octopus,
trout, swordfish
Beef, lamb,
buffalo, lobsters,
sole
Fruits,
vegetables, nuts
Field grown vegs,
fresh fruits
Legumes, nuts, dried
fruits, cultivated
mushrooms, avocados,
asparagus, greenhouse
vegs
Cereals Grains, bread Rice, quinoa, pasta,
breakfast cereals
Miscellaneous Water, sugar, tea,
coffee, plant-based
milk substitutes
Jams, chocolate, veg oils,
tofu, margarine,wine,
spirits, herbs, spices
Mycoprotein based
meat substitute
Laboratory
grown meat
substitute
Sarlio S. Towards Healthy and Sustainable Diets. 2018.

18. Effects of dietary change and policy mix supporting the change
• The climate impact of today’s Finnish diet can be reduced by 30‒40 % with dietary changes
and maintenance of soil carbon storage in farmlands
• The climate friendlier and nutritionally adequate average diet can consist of different
individual diets. Average meat consumption should, however, clearly decrease. At the
same time, actions to sustain the carbon storage of agricultural soils need to be
highlighted.
• The dietary change would revolutionize the agricultural and food sector
• The total income impact of food sector may remain the same if, e.g., the domestic content is the same as
today
• The total income impact of agriculture can be the same as today only if production still contains at least
some meat production
• Controlled change to sustainable food system requires new value chains and investments
for the production of plant-based products
• The public sector can support the change through strong strategic goals and combined
instruments based on economic incentives and knowledge in parallel
FoodMin project, Saarinen M et al. 2019

19. Comparison of the health and sustainability scores of different diets
• Health score of
100 complies with
WHO and Dutch
guidelines
• Sustainability
score of 100
complies with a
20% reduction in
carbon print and
a 44% reduction
in land use
Van Dooren et al.
Food Policy 2014