Food Sustainability the Topic for This Project

Food Sustainability

The topic for this project is sustainability in the way food is processed and packaged. This paper will investigate the cost effectiveness of processing and packaging food in a sustainable manner over the long-term. Industries are slowly making sustainable changes in the packaging of products, but not necessarily in the processing of the foods (Pollan, 2002). Sustainability has been a major marketing factor in the way food is delivered (Author). Research has demonstrated that the current food system plays an important role in causing climate change and how better food choices could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This makes the production of the food supply an important factor in sustainability with environmentally and social affects.

The "Our Common Future" report describes sustainability as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Bowden, 2011). As the meanings and uses of foods change over time, people's attitudes toward foods have varied greatly with time and occasion (Mintz, 2010). (Pollan, 2011) predicts change to come from local communities, urban agriculture, and from the states.

Balancing productivity, profitability, and environmental health is a key challenge for agricultural sustainability (Davis, 2012). There are barriers to locally grown foods. There are not enough stores that carry locally grown foods, limited days and times to purchase them, the belief that locally grown foods are more expensive and require too much space, and the belief they spoil too fast (Author, Connecting family, community, and health from a food system perspective, 2012). The assumptions of parents influence what kids eat, which makes parents the targeted audience to market foods products to. The marketing aspects require alignment of goals with family values.

Since the market system is characterized by private ownership of resources and the use of markets and prices to create economic activity (McConnell, 2008), it is the prime target for other issues as well, such as the rise of obesity in health issues. With the current food system not being sustainable, it is also a factor in other health and environment issues. The way foods are packaged being sustainable cannot fix other problems if the way the food is processed is unsustainable. It is important for the food system to become fully sustainable for maximum benefits to the health and environment.