12 What are Some Examples from Practice?
While most dietitians agree that SFS is an important topic for dietetics, we should highlight that not everyone agrees. Some feel that this is an area of specialisation. Your career is, of course, your own journey, and we encourage you to think of sustainability as a lens through which you look, rather than a particular set of dietary guidelines or actions you must add to your workload.
To explore the question guiding this section, we ask that you examine a few case studies which provide some examples of work that D-N practitioners have been involved in. They show a wide variety of types of work, using different roles, and from different regions.
Learning Activities
12.1 Watch
The video below highlights research conducted at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, focused on making hospital menus healthier, tastier, and more sustainable. This initiative showcases the importance of collaboration between various health professionals, demonstrating that creating a sustainable food system requires multidisciplinary teamwork. (~5 minutes)
Toward greener, healthier hospital menus | Transforming hospital food systems | Planetary health [1]
12.2 Read
Below are four examples from our case studies page. Read one to two case studies below, or find more examples on the Case Studies page is available online. (~1 hour)
National School Lunch Program (Japan)
NeverEndingFood Permaculture (Malawi)
SFS Education in Nutrition & Dietetics degrees: Global Case Studies (2025)
Sustainable Collaboration: University College Dublin and Airfield Estate
12.3 Reflect
After watching the video and reading through case studies most relevant to you, reflect on the following questions (~20 minutes):
- Choose two to three examples of ways that food systems are unsustainable and impacting nutritional health in your area. What solutions do you see that offer synergistic improvements in nutrition and sustainability?*
- Tip: see Learning Part 2 Chapter 1 for example role papers for actionable ideas.
Ask yourself:- What are ways that you can help make sustainable and healthy food part of the menus where you work?*
- What are ways you can help clients make sustainable dietary choices?*
- What are ways that you can create or support policy that supports sustainable food systems (including dietary patterns)?*
- What will encourage decision-makers in your organisation or community to see the value of providing healthy and sustainable food?*
12.4 Extend Your Learning
If you wish to deepen your understanding, explore the following:
- The UBC Centre for Sustainable Food Systems has developed a case study to educate people about Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Information on Indigenous Food Sovereignty is available online. This case study aims to deepen understanding of the importance of Indigenous communities’ rights to define their own food systems. The case study takes about 1-2 hours to read and reflect on the questions posed. There are numerous extra reference materials provided that would take additional time to read and digest.
- Did you like the YouTube video about UBC’s work with hospitals that you watched at the beginning of this section? Watch Planetary Health Menus in Action: A Fireside Chat with Vancouver Coastal Health on Reducing Climate Impact and Elevating Patient Care. This video is a recording of a December 2024 webinar featuring Darcia Pope, VP, Strategy, Innovation and Planetary Health; Dr. Annie Lalande, UBC Planetary Healthcare Lab; and Chef Ned Bell, hosted by Nourish [2].
Congratulations on finishing Chapter 12!
Media Attributions
- National School Lunch Program in Japan (2025) © ICDA Sustainability
- NeverEndingFood Permaculture, Malawi (2025) © Stacia Nordin
- Australia Sustainability Class © Monash University
- Sustainable Collaboration University College Dublin and Airfield Estate © Sarah Browne
- Faculty of Medicine at UBC. Toward greener, healthier hospital menus | Transforming hospital food systems | Planetary health [Internet]. YouTube. 2023 [cited 2025 Jun 24]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKUTmQ7g-D4 ↵
- Nourish Leadership. Planetary Health Menus in Action: Vancouver Coastal Health Reducing Climate Impact and Elevating Patient Care - Nourish [Internet]. Nourish. 2024 [cited 2025 Jun 24]. Available from: https://nourishleadership.ca/knowledge-hub/webinar-dec-12-2024-planetary-health-menus-in-action-a-fireside-chat-with-vancouver-coastal-health-on-reducing-climate-impact-and-elevating-patient-care/ ↵
From a Strategic Sustainable Development perspective (see Sustainability definition), a sustainable food system does not contribute to violation of the 8 Sustainability Principles. Within these parametres, myriad possibilities exist. — Broman & Robert, 2017
Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations High Level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security define “a sustainable food system [a]s a food system that delivers food and nutrition security for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.” — FAO
Dietitians of Canada also recognizes the importance of a Food Justice perspective in achieving such “social bases”: “Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly. Food justice represents a transformation of the current food system, including but not limited to eliminating disparities and inequities…” and that “key to achieving food justice is to have communities who have experienced injustices empower themselves to participate in the political process.” — Dietitians of Canada, 2020
See Part 1, Chapter 1, which explores the question: What are Sustainable Food Systems and Diets?
We recognize our audience is a combination of all protected terms and therefore are using the title Dietitian-Nutritionist as per ICDA’s definition: “A Dietitian-Nutritionist is a professional who applies the science of food and nutrition to promote health, prevent and treat disease to optimise the health of individuals, groups, communities and populations.” -ICDA, 2014
