Oxford Research Identifies Scope for Food Manufacturing Sustainability Gains

Research published in Nature Food analyzed products from 44 major food and beverage manufacturers selling in the UK. The study found considerable variation in nutritional quality and environmental impacts across manufacturers within the same food category. The researchers determined that making changes to 10% or less of a product line could deliver over 50% of the potential gains in sustainability or nutritional quality.

The findings highlight the capacity of food and beverage manufacturers to support environmental and nutritional sustainability through product adjustments. The study noted that two British supermarkets had the largest potential scope for improving their scores, while manufacturers with narrow product ranges generally had lower scope for improvement.