From farm to fork and back again: An analysis of the debate about inclusion of environmental sustainability aspects in dietary guidelines

The transformation of the food system is an essential component of the shift towards a more sustainable future. One way to achieve this transformation is by encouraging people to adopt a more sustainable diet. How we grow, distribute, and consume food affects our well-being and has far-reaching consequences for our planet’s environment, climate, and future. Although there is growing awareness about the impact of our dietary choices on the environment, incorporating environmental sustainability aspects into dietary advice remains controversial. This research aims to understand how Norwegian food system stakeholders respond to and perceive the integration of sustainability aspects into dietary advice in the case of Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) and to grasp how discourses, political interests, and actors influence the policy process of formulating the new national dietary guidelines in Norway. This thesis has a case study as research design and use document analysis of Norwegian newspapers and key informant interviews. Through my research, I discovered that the dominant discourse among food and agricultural interest groups demonstrated resistance to changing sustainable practices due to the existing political and economic structures in the agri-food system. I call this discourse the status quo discourse. I observed that the debate was driven by political interests rather than scientific evidence, with particularly the political party Senterpartiet and the agricultural organisations exerting political influence over the outcome. I also found that a coalition of actor-networks, epistemic communities, including parts of the research community, and policy entrepreneurs amplified their stance against sustainability, and effectively, steered discussions in their favour, ultimately influencing the policy landscape. The results of this study offer valuable understanding into the intricate process of incorporating sustainability aspects into dietary recommendations. As a case, it also contributes to broader analyses of contestations in policy processes for sustainable transformation.