Sustainable Consumption of Food: Framing the Concept through Turkish Expert Opinions

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Tekinbaş Özkaya F., Durak M. G., Doğan O., Bulut Z. A., Haas R.

SUSTAINABILITY, cilt.13, sa.7, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 13 Sayı: 7
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3390/su13073946
  • Dergi Adı: SUSTAINABILITY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Aerospace Database, CAB Abstracts, Communication Abstracts, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Geobase, INSPEC, Metadex, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: sustainable food consumption, food waste, consumer behavior, theoretical framework, sustainability, MEAT CONSUMPTION, WASTE, CONSUMERS, GENERATION, BEHAVIORS, INTENTION, ATTITUDES, DIET, DETERMINANTS, PERCEPTIONS
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The scarcity of natural resources together with the exponentially increasing world population has made the sustainable consumption of food (SCF) a crucial issue, as it has impacts on a variety of environmental, health, economic, and social dimensions. Considering the rarity of a holistic view in previous studies, this study aims to assess the current situation in sustainable food consumption and develop suggestions from all aspects, depending on the opinions of experts. In this direction, semi-structured interviews are conducted with 25 experts from Turkey to frame the concept of SCF, reveal the level of consumers' awareness, and provide suggestions to support SCF implications. Experts have considered SCF from ecologic, social, economic, and health perspectives; ecologic aspects being the most important, followed by economic and social perspectives. Deficits on the consumer side are lack of awareness, unplanned shopping, and mistakes in post-consumption behavior. Lack of awareness about the consequences of meat production, difficulties in changing lifestyles and lack of motivation of adults were identified barriers to SCF. Finally, suggestions of the experts for achieving sustainability are mostly relevant to raising awareness on balanced nutrition and food waste, with the help of training programs and the efficient use of communication channels, such as social media.