Bringing biodiversity to the buffet: labels, meal choices and menu changes in four university restaurants

Background
Food production is a major driver of biodiversity loss, yet impacts are rarely visible to consumers at the point of choice. To reduce our contribution to biodiversity loss, most of us need to shift our diets towards more plant-based eating. We examined how biodiversity footprint labels on buffet lines influence the selection of lower-impact meals and how acceptable biodiversity-aligned menu changes, such as reducing rice and red meat, are to customers, and how acceptability relates to diets and value orientations.

Methods
The intervention in four Finnish university student restaurants labelled every hot main dish for one week with a five-step colour-coded arrow scale, based on ingredient-level biodiversity footprint. Kitchen systems recorded portions prepared for each dish. After a four-month wash-out, the same menus will be repeated without labels (in February 2026) to allow comparison of labelled and unlabelled weeks. During the intervention, customers completed an electronic questionnaire (n = 524) covering diet type, meat consumption frequency, familiarity with biodiversity, value orientations, noticing and perceived influence of the labels, and support for reducing rice and red meat on lunch menus.

Preliminary Results
Preliminary analyses indicate high acceptance of biodiversity-aligned structural changes: only small minorities opposed reducing rice or red meat, while roughly two-thirds supported at least halving their provision. Overall, 67% considered biodiversity labels on buffet lines necessary. Vegans scored significantly higher on biospheric values than omnivores, suggesting that underlying value orientations are linked to readiness to support biodiversity-friendly changes. Planned analyses will combine production of meals and survey data to test whether the share of low-impact dishes increases during the labelled week.

Discussion
This study will provide real-world evidence on the behavioural effects and social acceptability of biodiversity footprint labels in catering. By linking objective meal-selection data with attitudes, diets, and value orientations, we will generate practical guidance for public caterers and policy-makers on how information and menu changes can jointly support biodiversity-positive dietary shifts.