Öko-Institut e.V.: Sustainability in nutrition and agriculture

Editorial

[Translate to Englisch:] Jan Peter Schemmel, Sprecher der Geschäftsführung des Öko-Instituts

Giving up is not hard to do

Editorial by Jan Peter Schemmel, CEO, Oeko-Institut

No meat? On a trek in 1996 in the company of vegans and vegetarians I noticed: it’s actually OK. And I didn’t even find it particularly difficult. Perhaps because pasta, pancakes and a pizza from the camping stove were particularly delicious. But perhaps also because I didn’t immediately become a strict vegetarian but have continued to eat fish and seafood from time to time.

That’s what I am still doing. As a result, I frequently notice how sensitively or defensively some people react…

Giving up is not hard to do

In Focus

More vegetables, fewer animals

Food and sustainability

The principle: plant-based foods. Animal foods as a supplement. For example, fish once or twice a week. And some meat, but not more than 300 to 600 grams in a seven-day period. That is the diet recommended by the German Nutrition Society (DGE). It would not only be healthier than what Germans currently eat – the average German gets through more than a kilo of meat per week. Eating in accordance with DGE recommendations would also have many positive consequences for the climate and…

More vegetables, fewer animals

More checks, fewer animals

Agriculture and sustainability

The escalope on our plate or the milk that we stir into our morning coffee don’t only affect the cows that are reared and kept for these foods. Our meat and milk consumption also influences the environment and the climate in various ways. It involves high levels of land and resource use, pollution of surface water and groundwater with high levels of nitrates, emissions into the air and land-use change for feed growing; all this leads in turn to biodiversity loss and increased…

More checks, fewer animals

[Translate to Englisch:] Thomas Voß, Kaufmännischer Direktor der LWL-Kliniken Münster und Lengerich

“Many have completely lost sight of the value of food”

Interview with Thomas Voss, Commercial Director of the LWL clinics in Münster and Lengerich

More than 1,700 lunches are prepared and eaten in two clinics in Münster and Lengerich every day. On top of that there are breakfasts, snacks and evening meals. But anyone who thinks of hospital food as insipid and cheap hasn’t encountered the two Clinics for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL). These clinics attach great importance to food in terms of both taste and sustainability. Thomas Voss, Commercial Director of the two clinics,…

“Many have completely lost sight of the value of food”