How sustainable can food be? What factors determine how sustainable a food product is?

Environmentally conscious consumers are demanding that retailers offer sustainably produced food. Governments realise that food production needs to be developed in a way that there will be enough food for future generations. Suppliers world-wide will have to understand and meet the requirements of sustainable production if they want to be able to sell products to certain markets.

Within the food and beverage industry there are numerous sustainability issues with respect to legislation, consumer interests and business-to-business demands. Our goal is to explore the methodologies available for assessing different aspects of sustainability across the value chain and find the best way of integrating these into a risk management system.

The necessity of sustainable resource management has been demonstrated in the fish sector. Previous lack of management has led to depletion of fish stocks, impacting both biodiversity and lasting harvest potential. We are committed to finding solutions on risk management of sustainable fisheries.

Aquaculture activities are expanding and the industry is expected provide fish to cover the world’s increasing demand for seafood. Aquaculture solutions are as diverse as the fish that are farmed. Risk management systems should cover issues relevant to carp breeding in rice ponds as well as industrialised salmon or tilapia production. DNV R&I aims to develop risk management systems to secure sustainable aquaculture production.