What we eat has a major impact on the climate. The Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) has therefore created a food pyramid for the WWF, which, in addition to ecological criteria, also pays attention to health. The most important thing for more sustainability would therefore be a strong reduction of animal food. In concrete terms, this means, for example, a maximum of one portion of red meat every two weeks and one portion of dairy products per day, according to Tuesday’s presentation.
According to the WWF, more than a third of the global climate-damaging greenhouse gases can be traced to food. 70 percent of the loss of biodiversity on land and 80 percent of deforestation is caused by food production, transport, storage and waste. The production of animal food creates a particularly large “footprint”. In Austria, both the consumption of meat and dairy products and the waste of food are far too high.
Less animal products, more legumes and nuts
The “Food Pyramid 2.0,” proposed by the WWF and the study authors, reduces previous recommendations for meat, fish and egg consumption by half and those for dairy products by two-thirds. At the same time, the proportion of legumes, nuts and vegetable fats is increasing.
Converted into portions, this means: On average, a maximum of one serving of red meat per two weeks is recommended and a maximum of one serving of lean white meat per week, plus one or two eggs. The consumption of dairy products should drop from the current three servings to one per day. The recommended amount of fruit and vegetables remains the same, but the proportion of grains, potatoes, legumes, nuts and vegetable oils must be increased. In the case of resource-intensive coffee, tea and cocoa, the study recommends a reduction from the previous maximum of three to one or two cups per day. Fatty, sweet and salty snacks should not be consumed often.
New food pyramid also crosses ‘planetary boundaries’
Even with the “food pyramid 2.0” “planetary boundaries would continue to be crossed”, but significantly less than before. Therefore, in addition to changing eating habits, a change in production is also necessary.
WWF wants to reduce sales tax on unprocessed foods
The WWF hopes that the federal government will adopt these proposals. In the future, nutritional knowledge should be taught as a separate school subject. Waste – in Austria more than a million tons of food waste per year – must be reduced by at least half, with binding specifications. In order to have sufficient arable land available for plant-based alternatives, land use must be greatly reduced. In addition, the WWF advocates a reduction in VAT on unprocessed foods such as fruit, vegetables and legumes. The higher tax on plant-based milk alternatives will go from 20 to 10 percent.
Source: Krone
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