Behavioural Trial on Sustainable Diet Shift (Part 1 of 2)

About

The Food Standards Agency awarded a contract to TNS UK Ltd (trading as Kantar Public) for a behavioural trial on sustainable diet shift, part 1 of 2, valued at AUD 89,490.

The trial was guided by an internal social science evidence review on gaps around healthy and sustainable diets, particularly decreasing animal-based food consumption and increasing plant-based food consumption beyond fruit and vegetables.

The review found limited evidence on shifting public acceptability towards sustainable diets compared to healthy diets, and even less on co-benefits.

Fiscal interventions and promotion and placement (choice architecture) interventions were found to be highly effective based on high-quality evidence, but the review highlighted the need for more real-world interventions with evaluation, including measuring long-term effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and unintended consequences such as spillover and substitution effects.