Sustainable Food System –Targeting Production Methods, Distribution or Food Basket Content? - Organic Food and Agriculture: New Trends and Developments in the Social Sciences - page 209

2 N-surplus/capita

GWP/c apita

1,5

Primary energy/capita

1

Agric. area in Sw eden

0,5

Agric. area outside
Sw eden

0

1 2 3 4

Sce nario

Fig. 4. N-surplus, Global warming potentials and Primary energy resources consumption
per capita and required agricultural area in four scenarios, relative values .

4.2 Health and sustainable consumption
Our food habits are, unquestionably, important both for our health and for the environment.
This is also one of the key issues of Stockholm County Council's S.M.A.R.T. project that
gives recommendations for diets that both improve the health as well as decrease
environmental impacts (CTN, 2001). New Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) were
approved in August 2004. These are guidelines for the nutritional composition of a healthy
diet (NNR, 2004). The NNR do not include instructions for sustainable food choices but such
recommendations are available at least in Sweden and in Germany. Some general
recommendations include: products produced most nearby when there are equal products;
ecological food; less foodstuffs which include few nutrients, e.g. eat fruits instead of sweets
(CTN, 2001; SEPA, 1997; 1998; 2000). In Table 4 both nutritional and sustainable food choice
recommendations are presented.
The food consumption profile of the studied households seems to follow the diets suggested
in the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR, 2004) and in the S.M.A.R.T. project (CTN,
2001). These households buy a larger share of vegetables (less meat), a larger share of
nutritional and storable vegetables (e.g. legumes and root crops) instead of fresh vegetables
(e.g. lettuce and cucumbers) during the winter season, less 'empty' calories, more
organically produced food and less transported food, compared to the national average food
basket. The only large difference is the share of potatoes, see Table 1. The Järna consumers
eat substantially less potatoes than the average Swede, while the S.M.A.R.T. project
recommends more potatoes. One reason might be recommendations in the anthroposophist
nutrient concept - Järna hosts numerous anthroposophist producers and organisations and
is considered the anthroposophist capital of the Nordic countries - to minimise intake of
solanin producing products like potatoes and tomatoes.
The energy content of consumed (purchased + restaurant meals) 'real' food (excl. sugar,
sweets, beverages etc.) was 10.7 MJ/person/day, while the Swedish average 2002 was 10.2