Consumption Patterns for Healthy and Environmentally Friendly Food Choices: An Overview of Contemporary Issues

Dietary patterns are associated with various impacts, both social and environmental, and constitute sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hence, reinforcing sustainable diets that are based on environmentally friendly foods, changing food consumption habits, and increasing demand for organic food can reduce the food-related carbon footprint, mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, improve the quality of human life, and promote changes in the retail, distribution, and marketing functions of business. In the framework of this study, scientific publications were selected which were evaluated by the use of a descriptive analysis through a systematic literature review. The reviewed articles were examined to answer the following two questions: (1) Which are the factors affecting consumer attitudes and habits toward healthy and environmentally friendly products? (2) Are consumers willing to change their food choices in a more environmentally friendly direction? In addition, this chapter tries to demonstrate the existing policy recommendations that reinforce public awareness and encourage environmentally friendly food consumption patterns. Findings suggest that the established attitudes toward climate change, preferences for healthier food products, and the social awareness toward environmentally friendly products seem to be the key factors to change purchase and consumption behavior.