The carbon footprint of Italian schools meals: An optimal choice of dishes in vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous menus

Luca Benvenuti; Alberto De Santis; Marika Ferrari; Deborah Martone; Laura Rossi

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.854049

The carbon footprint of Italian schools meals: An optimal choice of dishes in vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous menus

Front Nutr. 2022 Aug 31:9:854049. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.854049. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Luca Benvenuti¹, Alberto De Santis¹, Marika Ferrari², Deborah Martone², Laura Rossi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
² CREA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

This study aims to assess the carbon footprint associated with vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous menus for primary school lunches in Italy. For this purpose, healthy and acceptable menus with minimal greenhouse gas emissions have been designed by a binary linear programming model. The results show that the adoption of a specific diet may help in reducing the carbon footprint of menus, but it is the optimal selection of dishes that ultimately makes the difference. Interestingly enough, the optimal choice of dishes and the restriction of meat consumption in omnivorous menus can lead up to a 40% emission reduction compared to the current school lunch menu of the municipality of Rome. Moreover, the optimal choice of dishes in vegan menus provides the menu with the lowest carbon footprint among all kinds of diets.

Keywords: binary linear programming (BLP); carbon footprint (CF); school menus; vegan diet; vegetarian diet.