Claire Blennerhassett, Bethan Turton, Emma Reeder, Stuart Baker
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Abstract
Objective: The food system is a major contributor to the global burden of disease, ecosystem destruction and climate change, posing considerable threats to human and planetary health and economic stability. Evidence-based food policy is fundamental to food system transformation at global, national and local or institutional levels. This study aimed to critically review the content of universities' food sustainability policy documents.
Design: A systematic search of higher education institutions' policies, using targeted websites and internet searches to identify food sustainability policy documents, was conducted between May and August 2023. A quantitative content analysis of the identified documents was conducted independently by multiple researchers using a coding template. Inconsistencies in coding were subsequently checked and amended through researcher consensus.
Setting: 163 UK higher education institutions.
Participants: N/A.
Results: Approximately 50 % of universities had a publicly available food sustainability policy. The most common food sustainability commitments therein were communication and engagement (95·2 %), food waste (94·0 %) and quality standards and certification (91·7 %). The scope of policy commitments varied between institutions; however, comprehensive documents included multifaceted commitments tackling more than one dimension of sustainability, for example, waste mitigation strategies that tackled food insecurity through food redistribution. Few (17·9 %) policies included a commitment towards research and innovation, suggesting university operations are considered in isolation from academic and educational activities.
Conclusions: Multifaceted policy commitments are capable of uniting numerous food-related actions and institutional activities. As such, they are likely to support food system transformation, with broader positive outcomes for the university, students and the wider community.
期刊介绍：
Public Health Nutrition provides an international peer-reviewed forum for the publication and dissemination of research and scholarship aimed at understanding the causes of, and approaches and solutions to nutrition-related public health achievements, situations and problems around the world. The journal publishes original and commissioned articles, commentaries and discussion papers for debate. The journal is of interest to epidemiologists and health promotion specialists interested in the role of nutrition in disease prevention; academics and those involved in fieldwork and the application of research to identify practical solutions to important public health problems.
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