There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed.

Mobile and tablet apps, ubiquitous and pervasive computing, wearable computing and domotics for health.

Consumers are directly and indirectly responsible for a significant fraction of food waste which, for a large part, could be avoided if they were willing to accept food that is suboptimal, i.e., food that deviates in sensory characteristics (odd shape, discoloration), or that has a best-before date which is approaching or has passed, but that is still perfectly fine to eat. The choice to accept or discard suboptimal food is taken either before or after purchase (hence, in the retail store or in the household). The aim of the European research project COSUS (Consumers in a sustainable food supply chain) was to increase consumer acceptance of suboptimal food, before and after purchase, by implementing targeted strategies that are based on consumer insights, and that are feasible for and acceptable by the food sector. To reach this aim, different methodological approaches were applied to analyze this issue, to experiment with different aspects, and to test the resulting interventions. Each of these approaches was undertaken by competent consortium partners from Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden and The Netherlands. The project finally provides validated strategies to promote the distribution and consumption of suboptimal foods, thereby improving resource efficiency in the food chain and contributing to a more sustainable food supply.