Published in Nature Food, the research focused on the nutritional profile of some novel food products, such as seaweed or lab-cultured meat, while assessing water use, land use and potential carbon emissions.

The study concludes that these food alternatives represent effective and complementary solutions to vegetarian or vegan diets to help reduce our food-related carbon footprint.

“With significant reductions in animal-sourced foods and substitutions with novel or future foods and plant-based protein alternatives, you can have significant reductions in environmental impacts in terms of global warming potential, land use and water use,” said the study’s lead author, Rachel Mazac of the University of Helsinki.

From plant-based cheese to seaweed and insects, the choice of sustainable foods, sometimes made in labs, is expanding at a pace.

The EU is planning to promote seaweed (such as wakame, nori, spirulina) as a nutritional and ecological alternative, by means of a new digital stakeholder platform bringing together producers, consumers and researchers.

Alternatives to meat are also multiplying. Beyond cell-cultured meat, other avenues are now being explored, such as 3D-printed meat based on cereals or plants, including rice, pea proteins and algae.