Assessment of the Possibilities of the Necessary Transition Towards Healthier Diets, by Replacing Meat and Refined Wheat Flour, with a Mixture of Different Plant-Based Foods

Currently at least a third of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are due to the agricultural sector, where a significant contribution is due to the food meat production. Therefore, in parallel with the initiatives underway already regarding the transformation of the transport sector, to reduce the impact of emissions associated with means of transport, it is essential to urgently adopt also measures to limit GHG emissions associated with food production, given the significant contribution of this sector to the total GHG emissions. Otherwise, it will not be possible to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreements, for achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, to reduce the severe impacts of climate change. In principle, achieving the goal of drastically reducing GHG emissions from the global food system in the coming decades, could seem like a simpler task than reducing emissions in the transportation sector, since in this case it is not necessary to implement any new technology such as the development of electric cars and/or neutral fuels to get zero emissions. In this case, given that meat consumption is responsible for the majority of GHG emissions, it would only be enough to urgently implement a series of legislative measures aimed at supporting a transition towards a diet based mainly on plant foods and reducing the massive production and consumption of animal foods. On the other hand, there is currently a growing number of consumers who are very interested in following healthy and sustainable diets from an environmental point of view. This implies that the reduction of meat in the diet, in certain consumer groups, is gaining popularity, which in turn is generating the increase in plant-based products available in the markets. In general, these products adapt to snack food formats, pastas, pizzas, and especially vegan and/or vegetarian burgers. That is, in a practically spontaneous way we are witnessing the gradual replacement of the characteristic components of the Westernized diet, currently followed by most citizens on a planetary scale, containing excess of ultra-processed foods, salt and sugar, and rich in animal proteins, by nutrients of plant origin, healthier and more respectful of the environment. To encourage this trend legal measures could be urgently implemented aimed at improving the nutritional quality of current snacks, widely consumed by society, but of very low nutritional quality, together with measures aimed at promoting agricultural reform, encouraging the production of high nutritional legumes and pseudocereals.