Quorn and the British Dietetic Association (BDA) have launched an educational campaign coined Sustainable Eats. The project, which has been established as part of the BDA’s wider One Blue Dot program, aims to encourage people to moderate their meat intake while also seeing the nutritional and environmental gains.

The Sustainable Eats tool is accessible on the BDA’s website, presenting an interactive experience for users to embark on a culinary journey. It takes them from fully meat-based meals to 50:50 to those based exclusively on Quorn.

“We hope that the Sustainable Eats toolkit will provide dietitians and healthcare professionals with a valuable tool with which to help their clients. It is important that we recognize the role that our individual food choices make on the world around us,” says Tess Kelly, sustainable development manager at Quorn Foods. 

“Our research into healthy, sustainable eating patterns shows that significant shifts in current UK habits will be required to meet essential climate targets,” adds Jo Lewis, partnerships manager at the BDA. 

“While all stakeholders including the BDA work to influence policies that affect food systems, it’s also essential to support behavior change at an individual level so that people try incorporating non-animal sources of protein and more plant foods into meals.”

A tool to eat less meat
The tool is primarily targeted at providing dietitians with a resource to guide conversations with clients interested in finding out more about healthy, sustainable eating patterns. 

It will also include a stand-alone supporting report for healthcare professionals, which will explain the rationale behind the project and how to best use the tool virtually. 

Additionally, anyone can access the site, and there are recipe videos for consumers to follow along with at home. 

To mark World Food Day, which was held last week, Quorn and the BDA aim to show people that, by making small switches to their diets, they can significantly impact their carbon footprint and overall health. 

The tool also includes a fourth stage called The Reinvention Test to avoid food waste, a key factor in a sustainable diet. 

This will be the call to action for people to get creative with their dishes from the leftovers of any recipes using Quorn. Quorn is using the hashtag #ReinventYourPlate to encourage users to tag their meals on social media.

Mycoprotein for meatless products
Incorporating mycoprotein – the fungal ingredient in all Quorn products – the recipes provide a whole diet approach to improve the nutritional value of the meals by boosting vegetables and reducing ingredients that are higher in saturated fats.

Research recently published by the University of Exeter evidences mycoprotein as a beneficial ingredient for muscle maintenance and the reduction of low-density lipoproteins (LDL). 

Mycoprotein is a complete protein source – it contains all nine essential amino acids. It is high in fiber and a source of key micronutrients such as zinc, choline and B vitamins – riboflavin, B12, folate – and phosphorus and manganese.

“We believe that mycoprotein is a nutritious, sustainable protein that will be an important part of the diet of the future, and we hope this resource will show people how easy it is to cook with. The world has reached a pivotal moment in dictating its future,” Kelly further explains. 

Every recipe provided for the Sustainable Eats tool has received a complete nutritional analysis by BDA dietitians and been carbon footprinted by Carbon Cloud. 

The company hopes that, by including data on these recipes, it can raise further awareness about carbon labeling and show consumers how to use it to make educated food choices that benefit the planet.