FUTURE 50 FOODS recognised by world-leading organisations as a force for change

25 February 2020


Since its launch 12 months ago, a report detailing 50 plant-based foods has been recognised by world-leading organisations, including at United Nations events, as a force for change.

 

The Future 50 Foods – created by Knorr and WWF – has gained support from NGOs, media, retailers and chefs across the world, and played a significant role in putting dietary diversity front of mind. Since its launch in February 2019:

  • The Future 50 Foods has been recognised for addressing the United Nations ‘Zero Hunger’ Sustainable Development Goal 2.0, with Knorr invited to address the Food & Land Use Coalition’s event during the United Nations General Assembly
  • 350 of the world’s most influential chefs have pledged to showcase the wealth of under-utilised plant-based ingredients highlighted by Future 50 Foods in their future menus
  • The Future 50 Foods has been held up by the World Economic Forum, FOLU (Food & Land Use Coalition) and Chefs’ Manifesto as a force for good in promoting bio and dietary diversity
  • Global food services and catering company Sodexo has committed to introduce Future 50 Foods ingredients into 5,000 kitchens across workplaces and organisations in the United States, France, Belgium and the UK, with plans to roll them out to a further 10 countries this year
  • Supermarket giant Carrefour has committed to introducing Future 50 Foods stations with dish ideas and package-free ingredient dispensers to encourage customers to get more adventurous and environmentally conscious with their cooking

 

With 73% of global consumers keen to change their consumption habits in order to reduce their environmental impact (Nielsen, 2018) and 70% looking to reduce their meat consumption (Global Data, 2018) the Future 50 Foods report has given momentum to a global movement.  Four examples of how Future 50 Foods is making a tangible, positive impact:

In Indonesia the Nutrimenu programme with Future 50 Foods at its heart was launched in partnership with the government and local NGOs to tackle major nutrition imbalances in the country

In Mexico more than 900 teachers have been educated in using Future 50 Foods ingredients to help give 50,000 students the skills to cook nutritious meals with a low environmental footprint for their families

An innovative partnership between Knorr, WWF and smallholder farmers in drought-struck regions in South Africa is seeing more viable and sustainable indigenous Future 50 Foods crops such as fonio and Bambara groundnuts being widely cultivated again. These new, more diverse crops will not only be brought into Knorr’s supply chain, but will also boost smallholders’ incomes, create a more reliable local food source and significantly reduce the environmental footprint of local food production.

In Germany, a simple switch from beef to lentils (a Future 50 Foods ingredient) in Knorr Bolognese has reduced the product’s CO2 footprint by 83%

 

April Redmond, Global Brand VP, Knorr, and a Forever Food Champion, comments: “The depressing global environmental and health challenges faced by humanity today seem to many to be impossible to overcome, but at Knorr we believe that food is the single most powerful way to improve our health and the health of the planet.

“By 2025 we commit to increasing the number of Knorr products featuring Future 50 Foods by 25%. Over the next two years, 25 new Future 50 Foods-based products will launch across our top 10 countries, with much of that innovation coming out of the Hive, Unilever’s new €85M innovation centre in the Netherlands.”

 

 

 

ABOUT FUTURE 50 FOODS

The Future 50 Foods Report states the issues the global food system faces and provides a tangible solution to enable widespread change: 50 of the foods we should eat more of to promote a more sustainable global food system. These 50 foods have been selected because they have a lower impact on the environment than animal-based foods and are nutritious.

 

The different ingredients grow and are available in a wide number of countries and can be the side or centre of everyday meals. These ingredients can and should be added and substituted into meals and can be used to create new types of dishes. The aim is to help increase the intake of these foods to help improve the health of people and the planet.

 

The report has already reached millions of people in 25+ countries around the world and been written about in more than 600 news articles. It has also been translated in to five languages and counting. Knorr Future 50 Foods recipes have been downloaded 26 million times from Knorr’s global websites.

 

WHY WE NEED TO CHANGE WHAT WE GROW AND EAT

Over the past century humanity has increasingly reduced the number of ingredients we’ve used in our diets; today we cultivate fewer than 1% of the world’s edible plants, with 90% of our seed biodiversity lost in the past 100 years as a result of the commercialisation of our food systems . 

 

With 10 billion mouths to feed by 2050, two billion people currently suffering nutrient deficiencies  and the global food system currently the biggest driver of nature loss today , the Future 50 Foods report set out to reverse the catastrophic cost of our oversimplified diets to human and planet health and create a blueprint for positive change.



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