ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies potential indicators for sustainable diets and methods to assess them with their associated advantages and disadvantages. It reviews the range of methods and the many indicators available for public health and nutrition, environmental health, social and cultural considerations, food quality and economics. The chapter provides an overview of many different measures, indicators and methods, created by many organisations and researchers. Methods and indicators are not the most immediately exciting of topics for ordinary consumers. Methods matter because they can be the gateway to creating, refining and using indicators of sustainable diets. Sustainable diets must protect and promote the health of populations by reducing the risk of diet-related disease and foodborne illness and by promoting food safety. Measuring performance has become a widespread activity in modern societies and is the benchmark by which political and economic choices are regularly backed, audited and justified.
