COVID-19 demand-induced scarcity effects on nutrition and environment: investigating mitigation strategies for eggs and wheat flour in the United Kingdom.

Autor: Trollman H; Wolfson School, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK., Jagtap S; Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre, School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK., Garcia-Garcia G; Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK., Harastani R; Wolfson School, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK., Colwill J; Wolfson School, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK., Trollman F; Glenfield Hospital, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Sustainable production and consumption [Sustain Prod Consum] 2021 Jul; Vol. 27, pp. 1255-1272. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Mar 05.
DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.001
Abstrakt: The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to food insecurity in developed countries. Despite adequate levels of agricultural production, consumers experienced demand-induced scarcity. Understanding the effects on nutrition and the environment is limited, yet critical to informing ecologically embedded mitigation strategies. To identify mitigation strategies, we investigated wheat flour and egg retail shortages in the United Kingdom (UK), focusing on consumer behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown. The 6 Steps for Quality Intervention Development (6SQuID) framework informed the methodology. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were used to pinpoint the causes of the shortages, and ecological impacts of consumer behavior were related using survey results (n = 243) and environmental and nutritional databases. This research confirmed consumers' narrowed consideration set, willingness to pay, and significant reliance on processed foods which indicates agronomic biofortification, breeding strategies, selective imports and improved processed food quality are important mitigation strategies. We identified positive and negative synergies in consumer, producer and retailer behavior and related these to mitigation strategies in support of a circular bio-economy for food production. We found that the substitutes or alternative foods consumed during the COVID-19 lockdown were nutritionally inadequate. We identified the most ecological substitute for wheat flour to be corn flour; and for eggs, yogurt. Our findings also indicate that selenium deficiency is a risk for the UK population, especially to the increasing fifth of the population that is vegetarian. Due to the need to implement short-, medium-, and long-term mitigation strategies, a coordinated effort is required by all stakeholders.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(© 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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