Improving Food Eco-Efficiency in Canadian Food Services: Conceptualizing Meals with Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Reduced Waste and Balanced Nutritional Quality

根据IPCC的数据，温室气体总排放量占全球温室气体总排放量的三分之一。显著减少这些排放的选择包括改变饮食和限制食物浪费。然而，关于加拿大餐饮业饮食和食物垃圾产生的温室气体排放量的知识仍然很少，而远离家庭的食物消费占总食物摄入量的相当大的比例。这种信息的缺乏阻碍了减少温室气体战略的制定和应用。目前的项目旨在调查加拿大食品服务业提供的食品的温室气体排放量（与索迪斯合作，并与CNOQ、拉瓦尔大学和Cégep Garneau合作），（温室气体和营养质量的组合）在不同的食品服务环境中提供，与废物产生有关的温室气体以及食品服务管理人员和消费者对现代加拿大食品服务中生态高效膳食的整合的看法。该项目的第一阶段将包括对所研究的食品服务中提供的膳食的温室气体、废物、营养和经济信息进行评估。第二阶段将侧重于建立战略模型，以创造更具生态效益的膳食，具有较低的温室气体和废物以及足够的营养质量。定性，半直接采访了广泛的加拿大食品服务经理，厨师和工作人员将进行评估的障碍和促进者在每一个特定的环境中实施生态效率的战略。第三阶段的目标是开发通信工具和应用指南，以便在不同环境中创建生态效率菜单，并记录有关膳食生态效率的信息对消费者行为和选择的影响。最后，该项目将有助于了解加拿大食品服务行业的温室气体排放，食物浪费和膳食营养质量。此外，它将提供具体的工具，使食品服务管理人员和消费者能够通过创造和选择更具生态效益的膳食来减少温室气体排放。

According to the IPCC, the gross emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) represent one-third of the total global GHG emissions. Among the options to significantly reduce these emissions are dietary changes and limiting food waste. However, knowledge about GHG emissions issued from the diets and food waste of the Canadian foodservice industry is still scarce while the consumption of food away from home represents a sizeable proportion of total food intake. This information lack hampers the development and application of strategies to reduce GHGs. The current project aims at investigating the GHGs emissions of foods provided by the Canadian foodservice industry (in partnership with Sodexo and in collaboration with ITHQ, Université Laval and Cégep Garneau), the eco-efficiency of current menus (combination of GHGs and nutritional quality) served in different food service settings, the GHGs associated with waste generation as well as food service managers' and consumers' perceptions about the integration of eco-efficient meals in the modern Canadian food services. The first phase of the project will consist of an assessment of GHGs, waste, nutritional and economic information of meals served in the studied food services. The second phase will focus on modeling the strategies allowing the creation of more eco-efficient meals, having lower GHGs and waste as well as adequate nutritional quality. Qualitative, semi-directed interviews with a wide array of Canadian food service managers, chefs and staff will be conducted to evaluate barriers and facilitators for the implementation of eco-efficient strategies in each particular setting. The third phase will aim at developing communication tools and an application guide for creating eco-efficient menus in different settings, as well as documenting the effects of information regarding meal eco-efficiency on consumer behavior and choices. In the end, this project will contribute to understanding the GHGs emissions, food waste and nutritional quality of meals within the Canadian food service industry. Moreover, it will provide concrete tools allowing food service managers and consumers to mitigate their GHG emissions by creating and choosing more eco-efficient meals.