Food System vs. Sustainability: An Incompatible Relationship in Mexico

Among the proposals for improving food systems, the need for changes in consumption patterns has been repeatedly highlighted and is actually one of the SDGs [94,110]. Together with housing and mobility, food is one of three consumption areas with the most significant environmental impacts [110]. The impact is significant enough that both Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 advocate for action to encourage consumption patterns that alleviate environmental strain and fulfill humanity’s basic needs [111]. Shifting current dietary patterns towards a diet with low environmental impact can halve food system pressure on climate change and reduce other environmental impacts by 6–22% [41]. Recent studies emphasize the relationship between food, the environment, and dietary patterns. However, changing current dietary patterns towards healthy and environmentally sustainable diets, which are aligned with the economy and culture of the population, is imperative for both human beings and the food system [112,113].

According to the FAO, sustainable food and agriculture are one in which food is nutritious and accessible to all. Natural resources are managed to maintain ecosystem functions to meet current and future human needs. So, the global food system must be in tune with sustainable diets [12,39,114], defined as diets with minimal environmental impact while supporting food security, nutrition, and the well-being of current and future generations. These diets prioritize protecting and preserving biodiversity and ecosystems, ensuring cultural acceptability, accessibility, economic fairness, affordability, nutritional adequacy, safety, and healthfulness. Additionally, they aim to optimize natural and human resources [113,115].

While the sustainable diet approach is an attractive strategy to restructure current food systems, the real question is whether this strategy alone is enough within a food system that requires feeding a world population within the planet’s limits [57,116]. To achieve such a transformation, radical changes in people’s dietary patterns are necessary, and thus, a joint work between professionals and consumers to promote more responsible dietary choices. However, giving responsibility to the consumer to encourage a sustainable food system is a proposal with multiple nuances that have been severely criticized.

Getting people to consume healthy, local, economically, and culturally acceptable food with less environmental impact is difficult. Food is no longer simply a means to satisfy hunger or nourish the body but is equally a source of pleasure and a way to mark social status [110]. We take the example of Mexico; currently, the country has the highest dietary water [53] and carbon footprints [117], in addition to having the highest overweight and obesity rates worldwide [118]. The Mexican dietary pattern presents a high consumption of animal-origin protein, such as meat, eggs, and dairy as protein sources [53], while including lots of ultra-processed foods, especially soft drinks, and high-sugar and -fat foods, thus abandoning the traditional diet and adopting a mainly Westernized dietary pattern [6,24,53,119,120] As an example of this, we find that most developed and even developing countries are going through this nutrition transition, and although concepts and frameworks keep arising, health and environmental issues do too [49,50]. Therefore, it looks like the problem is no longer a conceptual or scientific evidence concern but a practical and political issue.

Understanding the food system in Mexico is complex, since the bases for food production nowadays (i.e., natural resources) are every time more threatened and scarce, especially water [121,122]. Although the sixth goal of the SDG addressed the urgency to provide availability and the sustainable management of water and sanitation for all [94], and the legal management of water is specified in articles 4, 27, and 115 of the Constitution, which lay the foundations for the legislation of water [123,124], the current data shows that the water crisis is on the rise. In 2018, 18% of the underground aquifers were overexploited, 5% had soil salinization problems, and 3% with marine intrusion problems. By 2021, 8491 droughts were registered, of which 71% were severe, 26% were extreme, and 3% were exceptional droughts, with total water scarcity in reservoirs, streams, and wells [125]. The nation’s water basins face a projected shortfall of over 500 million cubic meters of water annually [126].

When analyzing the water crisis the country is facing, it could be possible to think that the Mexican agro-food system has stopped or, at least, has decreased production. However, during the last 20 years, Mexico has become the largest producer and exporter of avocados worldwide. Between 1991 and 1998, export volumes from México almost quadrupled, increasing from 13,000 tons to 47,000 tons, and have continued to grow since [1]. This product is considered the “green gold” in the world market, since it contributes to 34% of production, 46.3% of the volume of exports, and 12% per year [127,128]^,. This fruit, which is part of the healthy and sustainable traditional Mexican diet, synthesizes the contradictions of agriculture and the main challenges facing the diet of Mexicans, not only in its economic and productive dimension but also in the social and environmental dimensions [129,130].

The expansion of avocado cultivation has led to the availability of land in numerous indigenous and peasant communities, where levels of extreme poverty persist at alarming rates. At the same time, food insecurity and health problems are common among farm workers, who are often community members. The expansion of avocado production has also exacerbated violence in a region already violated by criminals and drug traffickers present in the region [24]. Furthermore, this fruit is the primary driver of deforestation in the tropics. The swift expansion of avocado cultivation in central Mexico following the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) serves as a compelling case for reevaluating the sustainability of avocado consumption within the Mexican diet [1,24,131].

Additionally, Mexico is one of the leading countries that have implemented highly technical agricultural production systems to increase production. These systems pertain to crop covers constructed from translucent synthetic materials, such as greenhouses and macro tunnels, which are utilized to regulate the temperature of crops such as avocado orchards. These systems heavily rely on the use of agrochemicals to mitigate or prevent crop losses [132,133]. In Mexico, 60.0% of the 22 pesticides considered harmful to health and the environment are used [134]. There is no precise data on the amount of pesticides currently used in the country, but in 2005, the consumption of around 50,000 annual tons of active ingredients was reported. In 2007, it was estimated that 100,000 tons of these compounds were sold, which was equivalent to 4% of world consumption [135]. Pesticide use has generated problems ranging from toxicity to humans and wildlife to ecosystem disruption [136]. Mexican agricultural workers are the most exposed to different mixtures of pesticides, including organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates, and pyrethroids, increasing the incidence of diseases and cancer [137].

Many studies have shown the use of pesticides in producing avocados and many greenhouse products such as berries, fruits, and vegetables [138]. The pesticides with the most significant presence are neonicotinoids, followed by organophosphates, herbicides, and fungicides, which can affect human health and contaminate the environment [138,139]. Occupational pesticide exposure induces DNA damage, such as sister chromatid exchange, micronucleus formation, chromosomal aberrations, and even DNA adducts where the DNA strand breaks [140]. On the other hand, on 15 June 2023, the Food Safety News portal announced that approximately 35,000 lbs (15.87 tons) of frozen organic strawberries imported from Mexico were withdrawn from the market due to their possible contamination with the virus Hepatitis A [128].

One of the principal problems with the increase in food exports (in area and production) in Mexico is that this production has replaced essential and basic foods for self-consumption in Mexico, for example, the milpa base foods corn, and beans, which are fundamental components of Mexican gastronomy, cultural heritage, and identity [141]. The total area planted with corn in 2016 was 7,761,216.74 (hectares) ha, and by 2022 it was 6,904,042.77 ha, a decrease of 11%. Production has also presented a drop, going from 28,250,783.31 tons in 2016 to 26,553,239.30 in 2022. Beans followed a similar trend, having a drop of 9.7% from 2012 to 2022, with a planted area of 1632,150.47 ha to 1,472,462.29 ha. Their production also decreased from 1,088,766.73 in 2016 to 965,370.65 in 2022 [142].

Although the changes in production trends, maize, and beans are still planted in almost the entire territory. However, when comparing the production of fruit and vegetable crops, we find interesting trends that reflect the use of technologies in Mexican agriculture. Despite fruits and vegetable crops representing only approximately 13% of the planted area in Mexico (2.3 million hectares of fruit trees and 0.56 million hectares of vegetables), they contribute to 40% of the production value in the Mexican agro-system [1,21]. Mexico is the world’s leading exporter of berries, tomatoes, and avocados, with 12 free trade agreements with 46 countries [143]. The economic contribution of these products translates to a production increase, thus replacing the production of essential foods for a population that continues to face overweight and obesity problems and significant food dependency, besides increasing pressure on a country’s environmental resources, worsening the climate crisis.

Modifying the population’s eating behavior is one of the most significant challenges worldwide. No matter how many strategies are proposed and implemented, malnutrition rates continue to increase, as does environmental deterioration [57]. The most promising proposal is to implement multidisciplinary programs based on behavior modification techniques that address the population individually and collectively [144]. However, what is the point of promoting sustainable eating without a sustainable food system, especially if no sovereignty and food security can be achieved [145]?

One of the most important aspects to be addressed in sustainable diets, which is often overlooked, is contextualization. Indeed, the EAT-Lancet diet, which is one of the most remarkable proposals of a ‘universal’ sustainable diet, is sometimes widely generalized and loses its focus on the actual sustainability framework [57,146]. While it is true that this proposal calls for contextualization when implementing its guidelines in specific countries or regions, most emerging studies tend to only compare recommendations to actual intakes or to promote its recommendations directly [147,148]. However, each region must work on adapting their traditional diets according to sustainable diet guidelines and, of course, consider all the important contributions that models such as the EAT-Lancet diet have brought to us [57]. In this regard, Mexico is an excellent example of recovering its traditional diet and directing it towards a sustainable one.

The traditional Mexican diet is based on the milpa diet, a healthy eating model based on Mexican food’s culture and regional characteristics [149,150]. This diet integrates the products of milpa (corn, beans, zucchini, and chili) and promotes traditionally natural food techniques and dishes. The milpa diet also includes a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, such as citrus fruits, papaya, quelites, red tomato, and nopales, as well as rich-protein seeds and healthy fats, such as avocado, among other foods [151]. The milpa diet has evolved throughout history and is now complemented by European food that was brought to the region during colonization. Those include meats and dairy, significantly expanding the nutritional and culinary profile [152,153].

Due to its characteristics, the optimal health of the pre-Hispanic Mexican population was attributed to the milpa diet for decades. Currently, a growing amount of scientific evidence suggests betting on this dietary pattern to improve Mexicans’ health [154]. In addition, the sustainability of the traditional Mexican diet has been explored, and, if properly and individualized structured, it can be considered a sustainable option because of its low environmental impact and economic and cultural attributes [144]. However, although recovering the traditional diet is the current commitment by scientists and the Mexican government, the real challenge is how it can achieved [144], especially considering current Western dietary patterns that have modified the preferences of the population. However, the rapid evolution of affluent consumption due to urbanization and globalization should not be considered a cultural food preference [98].