Food production and dietary patterns

To best understand the full picture of the food environment and resulting dietary patterns, it is useful to consider purchasing and consumption behaviors from a food systems perspective. Factors such as resource inputs and outputs, waste streams, and feedback mechanisms play significant roles in food system operations, eventual consumption decisions, and health and environmental outcomes. This chapter will explore how different types and amounts of foods currently produced by food systems shape dietary patterns of various segments of the population. Ways in which these dietary patterns relate to health outcomes, nutritional adequacy, food safety, food waste, and food security will also be examined.