Volume 1 Issue 9, September 2020

The expression ‘less but better’ is used to guide Western meat consumption towards sustainability. Its definition, however, lacks clarity and may push meat consumption further from sustainable practices. The research community needs to provide a more informed explanation to consumers of what is ‘less’ and what is ‘better’.

The harmonized classification of titanium dioxide as a suspected carcinogen has the potential to misinform consumers and promote aversive behaviour. The case exemplifies the limits of a hazard-based classification system that should not be used without exposure assessment in downstream, sector-specific legislation.

Big data from major online food ordering platforms can facilitate a richer understanding of the environmental impact of current food delivery packaging waste, and scenarios for more sustainable alternatives.

For the food system of China and its individual provinces to stay within downscaled planetary boundaries, sustainability strategies must combine demand, production, and redistribution interventions to meet targets for greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land use, and nutrient inputs.

Numerous pesticide reduction policies have been introduced in Europe. Shortcomings in current policies are discussed in this Perspective, and ten steps for guiding regulatory bodies towards implementing effective pesticide policies are presented.

Conceptual frameworks linking food security and agriculture are diverse in their perspectives, assumptions and applications. After reviewing 36 such frameworks, systems modelling conventions are applied to a broadly cited framework to demonstrate the utility of incorporating these tools into food security frameworks for the interdisciplinary food community.

The online food delivery and takeaway market is growing in China, serving 406 million customers with 10.0 billion orders in 2018. Here, data from an online food delivery platform, life-cycle environmental impacts of packaging and tableware waste generated across 353 cities in China, and scenarios for paper alternatives and tableware sharing are presented.

The yield variability of 18 crops, representing 70% of global crop area and two-thirds of global calorific intake, is assessed here at the country level for the impacts of weather (temperature and precipitation) and farm management practices (pesticide and fertilizer application, and irrigation).

To achieve sustainable food production in China in 2030, strategies such as optimizing fertilizer application, improving production efficiency, reducing food loss and waste and shifting dietary patterns must be combined inter-regionally, and food production reallocated from northern to southern China. Levers and barriers to strategy implementation are discussed here.