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

据政府间气候变化专门委员会称，温室气体（GHGs）的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习惯和限制食物浪费。然而，关于加拿大餐饮服务业的饮食和食物浪费所产生的温室气体排放的知识仍然很少，而离家食用的食物占总食物摄入的相当大比例。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餐饮行业（与索迪斯合作，并与ITHQ、拉瓦尔大学和csamgep Garneau合作）提供的食品的温室气体排放，在不同的食品服务环境中提供的当前菜单的生态效率（温室气体和营养质量的结合），与废物产生相关的温室气体，以及食品服务经理和消费者对现代加拿大食品服务中生态高效餐的整合的看法。该项目的第一阶段将包括对所研究的食品服务中提供的食物的温室气体、浪费、营养和经济信息进行评估。第二阶段的重点是建立战略模型，以创造更环保的膳食，减少温室气体排放和浪费，并保持足够的营养质量。将对加拿大食品服务经理、厨师和工作人员进行定性、半定向访谈，以评估在每个特定环境中实施生态高效战略的障碍和促进因素。第三阶段的目标是开发沟通工具和应用指南，以便在不同环境下创建生态高效菜单，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，使食品服务经理和消费者能够通过创造和选择更环保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.