Edible sustainability – how bread contributes to more sustainable eating

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What “sustainable nutrition” means

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, sustainable diet is a diet with low environmental impact that contributes to food and nutrition security, a healthy life and climate protection for present and future generations. It protects and respects biodiversity and ecosystems, is culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable. It must also be nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy. The conservation of natural and human resources is at the forefront of sustainable nutrition (FAO 2010).

Environment, health, society and economic efficiency are the defining dimensions of a culture of sustainable nutrition (from Koerber 2012). It should be easy for the baking trade to adopt this perspective. After all, bread has been part of our diet for centuries.

A predominantly plant-based diet with products made from grains must be measured against these dimensions. This is primarily to meet the goals of teenagers and young adults, who are demanding greater environmental protection and climate action for themselves and future generations.

Eating right for future generations

Experts and specialist institutions around the world have set milestones for greater sustainability in the past. The roots of today’s increasingly urgent dietary shift lie in the early visions of pioneers such as Claus Leitzmann and his team at the University of Giessen, which were developed 50 years ago. Since then, the science of nutritional ecology has found supporters worldwide (Kolehmainen 2017, DGE 2021, IPCC 2023).

Today, it is the EAT-Lancet Commission’s* Planetary Health Diet (Willet 2019, EAT Forum 2023) that is showing us the way to a more conscious diet. Local, plant-based foods – including bread and grains – play a key role in these recommendations for sustainable farming.

_{*The EAT-Lancet Commission consists of 37 scientists from various disciplines in 16 countries. Among them are climate researchers and nutritionists. The researchers’ goal was to create a scientific basis for changing the global food system. One of the results was the “Planetary Health Diet”, a theoretical diet that helps protect both human and planetary health.}

Thinking in terms of renewable material cycles

The baking industry with its value-added networks is facing a major challenge: It must make its contribution to a future in which sustainable, enjoyable and healthy nutrition is possible for everyone. However, it can offer concrete solutions to tackle climate change, the growing world population and limited natural resources. The motto for the future is “regenerative food for planetary health”. This means producing regenerative food for the health of the planet (Willet 2019, BMEL 2023, Zukunftsinstitut 2023).

The “Planetary Health” strategy now provides concrete guidelines for global agriculture and nutrition. It was developed by an expert committee of the renowned scientific journal The Lancet and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Scientists have asked themselves how ten billion people can be fed in the future in a way that meets their needs without exceeding planetary boundaries. Politicians, scientists and social initiatives around the world are currently referring to this strategy. This is because practical implementation musts be adapted to the respective local conditions. This can vary in different regions of the world. However, at the local level, there is also a need to redesign production and value chains, especially in the agri-food sector (Melchior 2020, BMEL 2020, BMEL 2023).

What “regenerative economy” means

At a time when the production and consumption of products is putting too much strain on the environment, there are major challenges for the climate, water quality, biodiversity and other areas. The necessary transformation requires a new overall economic system. This is based on regenerative production and consumption processes in which the resource consumption in a value chain is aligned with its renewal potential. From the initial agricultural production of raw materials to the use of the product. In future, maximum utilization of material and by-product streams at all levels of the value-added networks must be combined with the gradual phasing out of finite resources. Optimizing the food supply in this way is key to a sustainable, regenerative food system that is also convincing to critical consumers (according to Kleinert 2023).

Bread: A sustainable product range

Agriculture is the starting point for regenerative food production, including the production of baked goods. The way we grow grain influences climate change and biodiversity, among other things. The principles of sustainable nutrition must be taken into account both when milling grain and when using other raw materials and ingredients.

The overall range of bread available differs in many ways. Today, bread is produced and sold in a wide variety of ways: from conventional or organic production, with regional or international recipes, bread from discount stores or from the bakery around the corner, completely traditional or innovative… If you look at the bread market carefully, you can evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of such products forms individually, depending on personal shopping priorities and resources.

The industry has been rethinking its performance in terms of sustainability for quite some time now. Important checkpoints in this context include:

• the origin of the grain (e.g. analogous to the terroir principle in viticulture, using aroma-relevant grain varieties) or the regional history of other ingredients,
• justified use of appropriate baking aids (e.g. malt flour or similar, preferably from organic production) to compensate for the natural processing characteristics of flours,
• transparent information on the use of non-fossil energy sources required for production,
• reasonable distances in logistics for supplying stores to reduce CO2 emissions,
• utilization of the possibilities offered by e-mobility,
• minimization of packaging and promotion of reusable systems,
• transparency of efforts to avoid internal food waste (recycling of old bread, cooperation with social institutions, etc.),
• expansion of expert advice in sales talks to increase customer loyalty and raise customer awareness in the context of sustainability as practiced within in the company,
• local events such as bread tastings to provide information about the socio-cultural value of bread and grains,
• opportunities for people to enjoy the bakery as a place for social interaction,
• comprehensive supply of baked goods to people in appropriate price segments, both in rural areas and in cities.

This list shows how indispensable bread is to the common good of a society. Bread is a product that combines social, environmental, health and economic sustainability in a very special way. Every day, bakers help to create a more sustainable food culture.

The role of bread and grains in a healthy diet

Whole grain bread and whole grain products in particular are an integral part of a healthy diet. They provide energy, mainly in the form of valuable carbohydrates without high fat content, cholesterol or added sugar. Whole grain varieties are more filling and contain more nutrients than highly refined flours. They are excellent for maintaining good health. As part of a balanced lifestyle, they help prevent obesity and the resulting health problems.

Bread is “local superfood”

Bread contains a wealth of nutrients, minerals, vitamins and other substances, making it a “local superfood”. The nutrients in the different types of grain help the body to meet its nutritional requirements. For example, magnesium has the highest contribution margin* in whole wheat flour and millet (grain). And whole grain oat flakes provide the highest amount of vitamin B among grains. Wheat and rye flours are particularly good sources of dietary fiber.

Other foods known as superfoods (e.g. avocado, quinoa, chia seeds, cocoa) also have a high content of important nutrients. In contrast, however, exotic superfoods are causing major problems in the global South. The sharp rise in production volumes since the 1960s on very small areas of land worldwide has led, for example, to monocultures, water shortages, and extreme dependence of local farmers on international corporations for their income. The transportation of exotic superfoods to Europe causes high CO₂ emissions. Bread, as it is produced in Germany today, is clearly different.

A healthy diet is not possible without a healthy environment. If our diet is to become more sustainable, we will have to consider the environment and health together (Kowalski 2022, Laine 2021, Alexandrovich 2016 ). Bread and grains are already far superior to other foods in this country. They are also available everywhere. Balanced bread consumption supports people’s health, climate protection, local incomes and the biodiversity typical of the region.

_{*The percentage of the recommended nutrient intake that a food or grain/bread contributes is referred to as the “contribution margin”.}

Recommendations from the scientific community

Bread and grains fit perfectly into a plant-based diet. They are often an important basis for official recommendations. Starting with the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) on vegetarian and vegan diets. Eating a more plant-based diet is bringing bread back to the table – or into the lunchbox for on the go.

The DGE (German Nutrition Society) recommends that a healthy population should eat around four to six slices of whole grain bread daily, or two to three slices plus 50 to 60 grams of cereals. Wheat, barley, rye, corn, oats, rice, millet or spelt – this variety enriches our diet. Products such as buckwheat or amaranth are also classified as “grains” due to their similar nutrients. A vegetarian diet recommends two to three servings of bread or grains per day, again with as many whole grain products as possible (Leitzmann and Keller 2020, UGB 2017). In the Mediterranean diet, one to two servings of bread, pasta, or rice per day (Majem 2017).

The Planetary Health Diet also emphasizes bread and grains as the second most important group in the human diet. The recommendation is 232 grams of grain per day (EAT Lancet 2019).

Experts also recommend offering bread and grains to children and adolescents. The recommended infant and toddler diet (1–3 years) already contains grain products, e.g. oatmeal (Research Department for Child Nutrition, n.d.).

A healthy and climate-friendly diet is hardly conceivable without bread. This also becomes clear when comparing the nutritional values and environmental impact of different product groups: (Whole grain) bread and rolls have a favorable nutritional profile and cause relatively little environmental impact. Simply put: Compared to many other food groups, bread has an advantage.

Sustainability in the bread basket

When purchasing bread, consumers are often overwhelmed with a significant amount of information. How can we eat more sustainably? How can you eat more plant-based? What should you do about throwing away bread? Questions upon questions… Here are short and concise answers:

Eat more plant-based food?

• replace animal-based foods with good bread and grains as often as possible.
• bread made from different types of flour, nuts, seeds and sourdough provide variety.
• choose bread more often outside the home, e.g. for lunch or breaks

Eating in a resource-friendly way?

• do not waste food
• reduce packaging costs
• shop according to your need
• share large loaves of bread with others
• ask grandparents for “money-saving recipes”
• use leftover bread in appropriate recipes

Eat more regionally?

• look out for regional products and shelves in the supermarket
• shop more regularly at local bakeries, weekly markets and farmers’ markets

Eat less processed food?

• eat fresh bread
• observe the list of ingredients on packaged bread
• buy grains more often and process them yourself

Eat fairer?

• use the variety of shops to buy bread
• look for fairness labels

Eat more enjoyable?

• take more time to enjoy
• choose suitable places to eat and drink
• get to know new bread varieties
• no obligation to do things you dislike
• shopping, cooking and eating together
• recommend tasty bread

Concluding remarks by the authors

If you ask people in Germany which foods they particularly value, good bread is one of the first thing they mention (Brombach and Bergmann 2020). A good starting point for bakers to pass on culture and expertise. And to explain why and how bread contributes to a plant-based diet for the population.

The conditions for bread production are changing at an ever faster pace: high energy and raw material prices, changing market trends, new technologies, staff shortages and many other factors are challenging the industry. Sustainability in the production and consumption of bread has become a lively playing field. And it’s a team sport!

The continued existence of old certainties has always been uncertain over the past centuries. With one exception: The staple food bread was and will continue to be urgently needed in the future. Eating a balanced diet of bread is good for your health AND the environment. Provided that the quantity and quality of the bread consumed are right. This is the case in many private households, but not in all. Not anymore or not yet? Let’s be optimistic.

Source (original in German):
Brochure “Edible Sustainability” by Dr. Karin Bergmann (Food Relations®) and Prof. Michael Kleinert (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) from September 2023, ed: German Bread Institute, Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 7 A, 10117 Berlin

Edited and published by: Richemont Centre of Excellence