EURO 2024 Copenhagen
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25. Including Sustainability into the Menu Planning Problem using a Wierzbicky Achievement Function

Invited abstract in session WC-13: Sustainable Food Supply, stream Secure & Sustainable Food Supply.

Wednesday, 12:30-14:00
Room: 15 (building: 116)

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Francisco Martos-Barrachina
Area of Statistics and Operational Research, Universidad de Málaga
2. Laura Delgado Antequera
University of Malaga
3. Monica Hernandez
Applied Economics (Mathematics), University of Malaga

Abstract


The Menu Planning Problem (MPP) has gained increasing attention in recent years, driven by the need to address the complex interplay between nutrition, cost, palatability and environmental sustainability in our diets. This work presents an approach to fully incorporate these considerations using a Wierzbicky Achievement Function (WAF). The MPP is a multi-objective optimization challenge that aims to generate daily menus that are not only nutritious and affordable but also palatable and environmentally sustainable. Traditional approaches have focused primarily on cost and nutritional aspects, often neglecting the environmental impact of food choices. However, there is a growing urgency to integrate sustainability into the MPP. This holistic approach results in a tri-objective problem that is optimized by using a WAF, a versatile tool that enables the simultaneous optimization of multiple conflicting objectives, to balance the trade-offs between cost, palatability, and environmental impact effectively. By assigning a wide range of weights to each objective, we can find menus that represent a diverse level of compromise between the objectives. Our research shows the effectiveness of this approach by generating an extensive Pareto Front of solutions, offering a spectrum of menu choices that cater to different sets of preferences. This study provides a valuable framework for incorporating multiple considerations into the MPP, paving the way for more responsible dietary choices.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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