IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v11y2007i3p133-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technological Change and the Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption: The Case of the UK Yogurt Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Dewick
  • Chris Foster
  • Ken Green

Abstract

This article examines the changing food production and consumption system of yogurt in the United Kingdom, focusing on the environmental impact of the yogurt processing stage from a technological perspective. Based on interviews with key industry stakeholders, we describe the evolution of the yogurt industry since the 1950s, characterized by a shift toward industrialized mass production and increased product diversity. We explain how new technologies, sociopolitical trends, and industrial strategies have shaped the evolution of the industry over this period. Moreover, we argue that the environmental impact of the current yogurt production and consumption system has been determined to a large extent by technological change. The article explores the future of the yogurt production and consumption system, considering the environmental implications of increased production of more differentiated yogurt products and how technological change may mitigate some of those impacts. The analysis reveals that to appreciate the environmental impact of the yogurt industry, policy makers should not focus simply on the primary stage of production but on all stages of the yogurt production and consumption system. Minimizing waste and improving resource efficiency at the yogurt processing stage are found to be particularly important. Transformation to an alternative yogurt production and consumption system with substantially lower environmental impacts requires significant commitment to change across the industry and the wider sociotechnical landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Dewick & Chris Foster & Ken Green, 2007. "Technological Change and the Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption: The Case of the UK Yogurt Industry," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(3), pages 133-146, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:11:y:2007:i:3:p:133-146
    DOI: 10.1162/jiec.2007.1241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1162/jiec.2007.1241
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1162/jiec.2007.1241?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dewick, Paul & Foster, Chris, 2018. "Focal Organisations and Eco–innovation in Consumption and Production Systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 161-169.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:11:y:2007:i:3:p:133-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.