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Updated: Sep 11, 2025

Transformation of Organic Household Leftovers into a Peat Substitute
Published on: July 9, 2019
Dish swap across a weekly menu can deliver health and sustainability gains
Annika N Flynn1, Taro Takahashi2,3, Alex Sim4
1Nutrition and Behaviour Unit, School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. annika.flynn@bristol.ac.uk.
Abstract:
A weekly canteen menu comprising 15 dishes (3 dishes × 5 days) has 1.4 million unique configurations. Here food choice was monitored over four weeks ( ~ 5,000 meals) in a UK university residence. Without students noticing, mathematically optimized menus achieved 30.7% and 6.3% reductions in carbon footprint and saturated fatty acid intake, respectively. This demonstrates the potential of strategic menu manipulation to benefit health and the environment, without the need for recipe changes.
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