Quantifying Metabolic Food Waste in Ireland from Excess Food Intake
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AbstractBackgroundThe Republic of Ireland (ROI) currently reports the second highest prevalence of adult obesity in Europe, with >25% of the adult population classified as obese. Concurrently, a concomitant increase has been reported for the risk of cardiovascular diseases and several cancers. While there has been extensive research on the health impacts of excess food intake, of the resulting food waste, also known as metabolic food waste (MFW) and its associated environmental impact has received little attention. Accordingly, the current study sought to estimate quantities of MFW from excess food intake among the Irish adult population and resulting global warming potential. Body weight and diet information were collected in a survey of 920 people across ROI. The excess fat of overweight (OW) and obese (OB) individuals was calculated and converted to excess calories using the Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID 2021). The energy content (calories) of the food items was used to estimate the quantities (kg) of food consumed to gain the excess fat. Having derived the kg of food/MFW, the associated Global Warming Potential (GWP) was calculated.ResultsCalculated MFW were 50.84 kg/cap/yr and 122.2 kg/cap/yr for the OW and OB populations, respectively. Dairy produce accounted for the highest annual MFW in both groups (12.0 kg/cap (OW), 28.6 kg/cap (OB)), followed by cereals/grains (9.0 kg/cap, 21.5 kg/cap) and potatoes (7.1 kg/cap, 17.0 kg/cap). Calculated annual GWP of food items highlight dairy produce as having the highest GWP v (66.8 CO2 eq/kg for OW and 160.5 CO2 eq/kg for OB), followed by red meat (36.2 CO2 eq/kg for OW and 87.1 CO2 eq/kg for OB) and white meat (24.1 CO2 eq/kg for OW and 57.8 CO2 eq/kg for OB).ConclusionsThe Irish adult diet is characterized by high consumption of cereals/grains and dairy produce, with the annual volume of MFW generated by obese individuals more than twice the annual volume of food (52kg/cap) disposed of by individuals at homeKey messages• Managing the consumption of dairy and meat products could accomplish two important goals: the promotion of environmental sustainability and the enhancement of public health.• In addition, managing obesity from the dietary stand point will encourage sustainable consumption and food security.
