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To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students’ background knowledge, students’ behaviour as consumers and food citizenship, most interesting topics of SFS for students and students’ preferences and expectations in developing different skills, topics and preferences in teaching/learning methods.

This study was performed as an online-survey amongst eight European Universities in seven European Union (EU) countries to which 1,122 students responded. Data was analysed with descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses.

Taste and Health are the most important values and motives that influence students’ food buying and consumption decisions, but significant differences were found amongst students from different universities and countries. The most important topics for students for future teaching courses are “organic food”, “fair trade”, “organic agriculture” and most important skills to learn are “ability to make a judgement and justify decisions” and the “ability to create and innovate”. Excursions and field trips as teaching methods was given the highest ranks.

Different study programmes and cultural backgrounds of the participating students in the different universities could be a limiting factor for the interpretation of some results.

These results provide a basis for improvement of higher education in the EU towards sustainable food systems based on experiential learning/teaching methods.

College and university campuses serve as a vital test bed for sustainability solutions of various types. To date, though, campus sustainability efforts have focused more on the environmental and economic aspects of sustainability, with less attention to its social aspects. This paper aims to draw on a study of student food insecurity to consider how sustainability’s three pillars might be more holistically engaged.

First, the paper reviews the literature on-campus food sustainability and student food insecurity to propose a preliminary characterization of sustainable food. Second, data from a study of food insecurity among students at a major research university are presented. The survey data measure the degree and attributes of food insecurity among undergraduate and graduate students. The focus group and interview data provide a detailed understanding of students’ experience with food insecurity, particularly with regard to how that experience resonates with the characteristics of sustainable food. Finally, the paper suggests that the systems thinking approach may be the best way to engage the social pillar of sustainability.

Food insecurity is prevalent among university students. These students find affordability and nutrition to be the most important characteristics of the diets they desire to have. The ability to access such foods conveniently is also important, whereas the sourcing of foods is not resonant.

This is a study of a single campus in the USA. Findings may be different on campuses that have different demographics and other characteristics.

Campus sustainability efforts must fully engage the social aspects of sustainability. This paper uses the example of food and food insecurity to show how and why this is important. It also points to systems thinking approach as appropriate for this holistic effort.

Few states or local school districts mandate a minimum time for lunch. With increasing pressure on schools to maximize instructional time, many US students have witnessed continued reductions in the time allotted to lunch periods and, thus, less time to choose from an increasing number of food options. This study aims to investigate middle and high school students’ preferences regarding the time available for school lunches and whether the amount of time would affect their food choice preferences.

This study investigated students’ self-reported lunchtime constraints and food choice preferences through a paper-and-pencil survey. The categorical and ratio responses were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression.

Students responded that they rarely had enough time to eat school lunch and that the lunch line waiting time strongly or very strongly influenced their food choices. For the students for whom time available for lunch and time in the lunch line influenced what they ate, they were more likely to prefer limited food choices in several categories of the school lunch menu.

Foodservice professionals who wish to actively promote better nutrition might consider practical ways to reduce the foodservice wait time for students. While making healthier default options (e.g. a fruit or fresh vegetable side) could increase service convenience, time required for students to make informed meal choices should not be compromised.

Because lunch line waiting time is related to students’ food choices, schools need to review the number and types of food choices offered in terms of whether they encourage students to make more healthful choices. This study offers a unique perspective on the relationship between time and individual food choices in the school lunch environment and how this relationship affects the quality of children’s diets and their eating behaviors.

Food insecurity is an evolving nutrition issue affecting both developed and underdeveloped college campuses. The purpose of this paper is to assess food insecurity and related coping strategies among Texas Tech University students.

This was a cross-sectional online survey in Lubbock, Texas, among college students (n=173). The outcome measures, socio-demographic factors, household food insecurity access) and dietary diversity were assessed using validated tools. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software. Socio-demographic differences in food security status were examined using χ², and means testing. Risks of student food insecurity were assessed using odds ratios (ORs).

Respondents were mostly female (70 percent), non-Hispanic white (58 percent) and young adults’ (median age: 22.0 (20.0, 27.0)), with a median monthly income of $1,000 (0.0, 1,500) and spent about a fifth of their income on food. More students were food insecure (59.5 percent) compared to those who experienced food security (40.5 percent) (p<0.001). Some of the severe food insecure students (16.7 percent) reported going to bed without food (6.9 percent) in the prior 30 days. Students with monthly food budgets of ⩽ $200 were 3.2 times more likely to be food insecure (OR=3.231: CI: 1.353–7.714; p=0.010) compared to those with higher food budgets. A students’ choice of priority monthly expenses was significantly associated with food security status; however, further risk assessment of dichotomous “prioritized food” and “prioritized other expenses” was not statistically significant.

Student’s food budget of $200 was the strongest determinant of food insecurity. Individual training on money management and meal planning are recommended. University policies should recognize and develop academic support policies addressing competing expenses with food.

The health-promoting schools (HPSs) framework has emerged as a promising model for promoting school connectedness in the school setting. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for food practices to promote school connectedness within a HPSs framework.

This study explores food practices within a New Zealand secondary school by using an ethnographic methodology, with interviews and observations, to explore in-depth the range of food practices that occurred within the school across a whole school year. Thematically the data were ready for school connectedness indicators across the recorded events, and categorically the practices were coded according to their level of occurrence within the HPS framework.

The findings showed that food practices occurred across class- and school-level organisation, ethos, environment, and community partnerships, and indicated that they may be valuable assets for a HPS approach to school connectedness. By integrating the findings of the present study with previous literature the authors suggest a HPS framework for promoting school connectedness through food practices.

This paper contributes to the emerging research on whole-school approaches to building school connectedness, and provides a first contribution on the value of food practices for school connectedness.

The purpose of this paper is to describe students’ self-reported learning from engaging in an experiential learning task designed to develop their understanding of sustainable food systems and dietary practices.

In all, 143 first-year students enrolled in an entry level food and nutrition subject undertook a three-week eco-friendly food challenge (1. Reduce food (and food-related) waste; 2. localise food purchases; 3. eat seasonally and sustainably; or 4. reduce meat consumption). They blogged about their experience and respond to an action-orientated reflective question each week. Content analysis of the blogs was undertaken using NVivo 10. Content was systematically coded and categorised according to action/activity, learning and response to reflective question.

Students reported undertaking a range of self-selected practical activities throughout the challenge. Self-reported learning suggested students gained self-awareness and knowledge and demonstrated problem-solving abilities. The importance of planning and preparation was the most common theme in students’ blogs when responding to the action-orientated reflective question in Week 1. In Week 2, students identified socially mediated barriers and the time and energy required to undertake their challenge as the most likely barriers preventing others engaging in the challenge. They provided advice and solutions to overcome these barriers. In Week 3, a range of community, government and multi-sector initiatives to support consumer food-related behaviour change were identified.

This approach presents a possible means for engaging nutrition undergraduates with environmental sustainability.

This study aims to investigate the sustainability of the food culture at Deakin University and to determine what the barriers to increasing the sustainability of food on the Burwood campus may be.

An online survey of staff and students from the Faculty of Health at the Burwood campus of Deakin University (n = 697) was undertaken. The survey included questions relating to eating habits on campus, views on the current food culture, food security, food disposal, visions for the future and demographic information. In addition, a short paper-based survey was developed for the ten food outlets on campus.

The results show that although sustainability considerations are important to staff and students, cost is the main issue and is a significant barrier to the development of a more sustainable food culture. It is also a significant barrier to staff and students making healthy choices when it comes to the purchase of food on campus. However, sustainable food initiatives such as community gardens could help alleviate this barrier and also contribute to improving student engagement.

The online survey was limited to the Faculty of Health, and, therefore, a potential bias exists towards individuals who may have an interest in health. This should be considered when interpreting the results.

This research demonstrates that although cost may be a barrier to universities improving the sustainability of their food culture, there are other ways in which universities can create an environment that embraces sustainable food production to benefit both the environment and the university community.

Strengthening awareness and education to address food safety problem is of importance. The purpose of this study is to investigate food safety knowledge and opinion among Serbian students and the efficiency of education on their self-reported behaviour as consumers.

A questionnaire on the attitudes and self-reported behaviour of students was completed by 414 students at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Serbia. The questions covered hand hygiene; cross-contamination; conditions of food cooling; and knowledge of risky food. Students were divided into two groups: students in their first and second year of study (1–2 YoS) who had not attended any subjects related to food safety during their education; students in the third and fourth years of the Food Technology Program (3–4 YoS) who had completed one or more courses concerning food safety during their education.

Overall, there were significant differences in the opinions of 1–2 YoS students and 3–4 YoS students on most issues. It was noted that male students are at higher risk when it comes to food handling. Considering the significant impact of education as evidenced by the opinions of 3–4 YoS students, it can be concluded that education is effective in raising awareness and changing behaviour among young people.

The study identified how education affects students' opinion and food handling. Moreover, it highlighted the areas of deficiency in students' food safety behaviour, knowledge and attitudes. Limited research has been conducted on food safety knowledge among students.

The sustainability of the global food system hinges on its environmental resiliency and safety, including the health and well-being of its labor force. Single disciplinary courses in liberal arts or science often fail to highlight the overlap between environmental and social vulnerabilities that lead to food insecurity and diminish the sustainability of food systems. This paper aims to present the design and delivery of a successfully co-taught, interdisciplinary module on agricultural labor and sustainable food systems as a case study.

The authors designed a co-taught module in which they joined each other’s respective history and science class sessions at the undergraduate business college where they teach. Innovating the cross-disciplinary content of food security, immigration status, labor exploitation and pesticide exposure, they approached sustainability from the disciplinary perspectives of labor history and environmental science to show how these elements had both unique and overlapping impacts across food systems levels. Comparisons between pre- and post-module survey responses, alongside assessments of a co-authored exam question, measured the effectiveness of this module is changing students’ perspectives as food consumers and as citizens.

This module altered students’ understanding and perspectives around issues of food systems sustainability. Assessments indicated that students increased their awareness of agricultural workers at the front end of the food system, during production; students also gained awareness beyond consumption as they came to see the connections between workforce invisibility and ecosystem degradation.

These insights are valuable to educators at all institutional levels who seek to collaborate on sustainability initiatives and teaching, both in the singular, robust modules and in building modules that will lead to the development of entire courses focused on sustainability. The module described here builds on previous demonstrations of the value, significance and effectiveness of cross-disciplinary collaborations; it pioneers the use of the food system as the link between social and environmental sustainability education.

Because food waste is a serious problem today, society is currently aiming for more responsible consumption to minimize it, as defined in the 12th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to examine whether an informative initiative can help to raise university students’ awareness of food waste consequences.

The initiative consisted of explaining the problem of food waste to students of two marketing subject modules within economics and business administration degrees and asking them to participate in an activity in which they analyzed their own behavior. To assess its impact, two questionnaires about the students’ food waste behaviors were administered, before and after the initiative, adopting an experimental design.

The results show that the information and awareness activities were successful, because, after the initiative, the students were more aware about the food waste problem and its consequences and were more critical of their behavior regarding the management of leftovers at home.

Despite some circumstances under which the study was conducted (the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown), the practical and social implications are relevant.

This study offers some interesting practical implications for educational institutions that want to inform and train students in more responsible consumption behavior. It shows that an initiative in which students are involved, like collecting data about food waste, in their homes with a diary, and informative sessions can be useful to increase students’ awareness of food waste to behave in a more sustainable way.

These findings may be of interest to academics for designing initiatives that try to train and educate young people in making more responsible personal and professional decisions.

This study analyzes the impact of an awareness-raising initiative about food waste in higher education, which is a relatively neglected topic in the literature.