2023 Articles

Conceptualising the drivers of ultra-processed food production and consumption and their environmental impacts: A group model-building exercise

Anastasiou, Kim; Baker, Phillip; Hendrie, Gilly A.; Hadjikakou, Michalis; Boylan, Sinead; Chaudhary, Abhishek; Clark, Michael; DeClerck, Fabrice A.J.; Fanzo, Jessica C.; Fardet, Anthony; Marrocos Leite, Fernanda Helena; Mason-D'Croz, Daniel; Percival, Rob; Reynolds, Christian; Lawrence, Mark

Using group model building we developed a series of causal loop diagrams identifying the environmental impacts of ultra-processed food (UPF) systems, and underlying system drivers, which was subsequently validated against the peer-reviewed literature. The final conceptual model displays the commercial, biological and social drivers of the UPF system, and the impacts on environmental sub-systems including climate, land, water and waste. It displays complex interactions between various environmental impacts, demonstrating how changes to one component of the system could have flow-on effects on other components. Trade-offs and uncertainties are discussed. The model has a wide range of applications including informing the design of quantitative analyses, identifying research gaps and potential policy trade-offs resulting from a reduction of ultra-processed food production and consumption.