Plant-based foods are increasing in popularity as more and more people are concerned about personal and planetary health. The consumption of plant-based dairy alternatives (PBDAs) has assumed a more significant dietary role in populations shifting to more sustainable eating habits. Plant-based drinks (PBDs) made from soya and other legumes have ample protein levels. PBDs that are appropriately fortified have adequate levels of important vitamins and minerals comparable to dairy milk. For the PBDs examined, the greenhouse gas emissions were diminished by 59–71% per 250 mL, and the land use and eutrophication impact was markedly less than the levels displayed by dairy milk. The water usage for the oat and soya drinks, but not rice drinks, was substantially lower compared to dairy milk. When one substitutes the 250 mL serving of dairy milk allowed within the EAT Lancet Planetary Health Diet for a fortified plant-based drink, we found that the nutritional status is not compromised but the environmental footprint is reduced. Combining a nutrient density score with an environmental index can easily lead to a misclassification of food when the full nutrition profile is not utilized or only a selection of environmental factors is used. Many PBDAs have been categorized as ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Such a classification, with the implied adverse nutritional and health associations, is inconsistent with current findings regarding the nutritional quality of such products and may discourage people from transitioning to a plant-based diet with its health and environmental advantages.

Purpose: The current pilot study explored food insecurity, food waste, food related behaviours and cooking confidence of UK consumers following the COVID-19 lockdown.Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 473 UK-based consumers (63% female) in March 2020. A cross-sectional online survey measured variables including food insecurity prevalence, self-reported food waste, food management behaviours, confidence and frequency of use of a range of cooking methods, type of food eaten (ultra-processed, semi-finished, unprocessed) and packaging type foods are purchased in.Findings: 39% of participants have experienced some food insecurity in the last 12 months. Being younger, having a greater BMI and living in a smaller household were associated with food insecurity. Green leaves, carrots, potatoes and sliced bread are the most wasted of purchased foods. Polenta, green leaves and white rice are the most wasted cooked foods. Food secure participants reported wasting a smaller percentage of purchased and cooked foods compared to food insecure participants. Overall, participants were most confident about boiling, microwaving and stir-frying and least confident with using a pressure cooker or sous vide. Food secure participants were more confident with boiling, stir-frying, grilling and roasting than insecure food participants.Practical implications: This has implications for post lockdown policy, including food policies and guidance for public-facing communications.Originality/value: We identified novel differences in self-report food waste behaviours and cooking confidence between the food secure and insecure consumers and observed demographics associated with food insecurity.

There is growing interest in assessing the environmental impacts of diets due to the awareness of the link with human and planetary health. Until now, a limiting factor in this field has been linking information on the environmental impacts of foods to detailed, individual-level dietary data that accurately reflects people’s food consumption habits. Here we present (i) a method to link environmental impact data to a food description and classification system (FoodEx2); (ii) a resulting dataset of environmental impact values matched to 4089 food descriptors; and (iii) an example of applying this data to assess the environmental footprints of diets from Brazil and the USA. Our methodology and dataset enhance the interoperability between environmental and nutritional data, facilitating the assessment of the environmental impact of dietary intakes from different countries. They can be used by researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and consumers to reduce the environmental impact of diets.