Volume 5 Issue 2, February 2024

Food systems are complex and actions in one area are likely to have ripple effects in others. A newly proposed efficiency metric shows how well environmental resources used (and degraded) by food systems contribute to diet-related health outcomes.

Reliably predicting where crop yields may stagnate in the future can offer a suite of benefits for food system sustainability.

An assessment of the supply chain reveals a rising trend in global food loss and waste, with uneven distribution across regions. Integrated interventions are necessary to reduce food waste and improve nutritional and environmental security.

Harmonization of front-of-pack nutrition labelling systems with national food-based dietary guidelines and the latest scientific evidence ensures the accuracy of the information provided to consumers. This Perspective presents the 2023 scientific committee’s update of the Nutri-Score nutrient profile model.

Unlike nitrogen and phosphorus, potassium has received little attention despite being key to food security and ecosystem health. This Perspective proposes six actions concerning potassium deficiency, potash price volatility and potash mining.

The coupled impacts of diets on health and the environment must be considered when setting food policy targets and evaluating the effectiveness of specific interventions. A newly proposed health–environment efficiency indicator applied to 195 countries over two decades can aid this process, revealing important trends and drivers.

The patterns of how yield gaps change can suggest likely future outcomes for crop growth. This study conducts a spatial and temporal analysis of yield gaps for ten major crops from 1975 to 2010 and identifies regions where crops are experiencing ‘ceiling pressure’, signalling opportunities to improve future food security.

A database addresses the magnitude, composition, location and environmental footprint of global food loss and waste, providing a link to global trade, nutritional security and environmental impacts.

Canada’s Food Guide recommends greater consumption of plant protein foods, but replacing animal with plant protein sources might have important consequences. Based on actual food intake values, this study assesses the impacts of partial replacement (that is, 25% and 50%) on nutrient inadequacy, health outcomes and diet-related GHG emissions.

This study analyses the synergistic effects of reductions in ozone and aerosols on China’s maize, rice and wheat yields, showing that meeting air quality targets would help the country to achieve grain self-sufficiency.

Most people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford a nutritious diet. Using consumer demand system modelling, this study estimates diet quality sensitivity to changing income and prices of specific foods in Malawi, Niger, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.