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Galanakis CM. The "Vertigo" of the Food Sector within the Triangle of Climate Change, the Post-Pandemic World, and the Russian-Ukrainian War. Foods 2023; 12:foods12040721. [PMID: 36832796 PMCID: PMC9956103 DOI: 10.3390/foods12040721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Over the last few years, the world has been facing dramatic changes due to a condensed period of multiple crises, including climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian-Ukrainian war. Although different, these consecutive crises share common characteristics (e.g., systemic shocks and non-stationary nature) and impacts (e.g., disruption of markets and supply chains), questioning food safety, security, and sustainability. The current article analyses the effects of the noted crises in the food sector before proposing target mitigation measures to address the different challenges. The goal is to transform the food systems to increase their resilience and sustainability. This goal can only be achieved if all relevant actors within the supply chain (e.g., governments, companies, distributors, farmers, etc.) play their role by designing and implementing target interventions and policies. In addition, the transformation of the food sector should be proactive concerning food safety, circular (valorizing several bioresources under the principles of climate neutral economy and blue bioeconomy), digital (based on Industry 4.0 applications), and inclusive (ensuring that all citizens are actively engaged). Food production modernization (e.g., by implementing emerging technologies) and developing shorter and more domestic supply chains are also critical to achieving food resilience and security.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charis M. Galanakis
- Galanakis Laboratories, Research & Innovation Department, 73131 Chania, Greece;
- Food Waste Recovery Group, ISEKI Food Association, 1190 Vienna, Austria
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2
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Richardson L, Fernqvist F. Transforming the Food System through Sustainable Gastronomy - How Chefs Engage with Food Democracy. JOURNAL OF HUNGER & ENVIRONMENTAL NUTRITION 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/19320248.2022.2059428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Leah Richardson
- Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma, Sweden
| | - Fredrik Fernqvist
- Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma, Sweden
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3
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Fanzo J, Rudie C, Sigman I, Grinspoon S, Benton TG, Brown ME, Covic N, Fitch K, Golden CD, Grace D, Hivert MF, Huybers P, Jaacks LM, Masters WA, Nisbett N, Richardson RA, Singleton CR, Webb P, Willett WC. Sustainable food systems and nutrition in the 21st century: a report from the 22nd annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium. Am J Clin Nutr 2022; 115:18-33. [PMID: 34523669 PMCID: PMC8755053 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Food systems are at the center of a brewing storm consisting of a rapidly changing climate, rising hunger and malnutrition, and significant social inequities. At the same time, there are vast opportunities to ensure that food systems produce healthy and safe food in equitable ways that promote environmental sustainability, especially if the world can come together at the UN Food Systems Summit in late 2021 and make strong and binding commitments toward food system transformation. The NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard and the Harvard Medical School Division of Nutrition held their 22nd annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium entitled "Global Food Systems and Sustainable Nutrition in the 21st Century" in June 2021. This article presents a synthesis of this symposium and highlights the importance of food systems to addressing the burden of malnutrition and noncommunicable diseases, climate change, and the related economic and social inequities. Transformation of food systems is possible, and the nutrition and health communities have a significant role to play in this transformative process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Fanzo
- Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Coral Rudie
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Iman Sigman
- Metabolism Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Steven Grinspoon
- Metabolism Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Tim G Benton
- Energy, Environment and Resources Programme, Chatham House, London, United Kingdom
| | - Molly E Brown
- Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Namukolo Covic
- International Food Policy Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Kathleen Fitch
- Metabolism Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Christopher D Golden
- Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Delia Grace
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, United Kingdom
- Animal and Human Health, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Marie-France Hivert
- Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Peter Huybers
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lindsay M Jaacks
- Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - William A Masters
- Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Nicholas Nisbett
- Health and Nutrition Cluster, Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, United Kingdom
| | | | - Chelsea R Singleton
- Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Patrick Webb
- Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Walter C Willett
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
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4
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Kronberg SL, Provenza FD, van Vliet S, Young SN. Review: Closing nutrient cycles for animal production - Current and future agroecological and socio-economic issues. Animal 2021; 15 Suppl 1:100285. [PMID: 34312093 DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2021.100285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 04/08/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
We face an urgent and complex challenge to produce large amounts of healthful animal and plant foods for an estimated 10 billion people by 2050 while maintaining essential ecosystem services. To compound this challenge, we must do so while not further degrading our environment and conserving essential nutrients such as copper, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc that are in short supply for fertilization. Much good research has been done, but to meet this challenge, we need to greatly increase on-farm and watershed-scale research including on-farm evaluations and demonstrations of the putative best combinations of stewardship techniques over multiple years in real-world settings, which are backed by data on nutrient inputs, soil, air, and water chemistry (fluxes) and water discharge. We also need to work with farmers, specialists, and generalists in highly creative interdisciplinary teams that resist forming silos and that use combinations of techniques linked to agroecology and industrial ecology in combination with state-of-the-art engineering. Some of these research and demonstration farms need to be in catchments prone to pollution of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients. Some promising approaches include mixed crop-livestock systems, although these alone may not be productive enough without updating to meet the dietary needs of an estimated 10 billion people by 2050. Other approaches could be state-of-the-art multi-trophic production systems, which include several species of plants integrated into production with vertebrates (e.g., ruminants, pigs, poultry), invertebrates (e.g., insects, earthworms) and fish, shrimp, or crayfish to utilize wasted feed and excreta, and recycle nutrients back to the animals (via plants or invertebrates) in the systems. To cut costs and increase desirable outputs, we must recycle nutrients much better within our food production systems and produce both animal and plant foods more efficiently as nutrients cycle through systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- S L Kronberg
- Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Mandan, ND, United States.
| | - F D Provenza
- Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
| | - S van Vliet
- Duke Molecular Physiology Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
| | - S N Young
- Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
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Leggieri MC, Toscano P, Battilani P. Predicted Aflatoxin B 1 Increase in Europe Due to Climate Change: Actions and Reactions at Global Level. Toxins (Basel) 2021; 13:292. [PMID: 33924246 PMCID: PMC8074758 DOI: 10.3390/toxins13040292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Climate change (CC) is predicted to increase the risk of aflatoxin (AF) contamination in maize, as highlighted by a project supported by EFSA in 2009. We performed a comprehensive literature search using the Scopus search engine to extract peer-reviewed studies citing this study. A total of 224 papers were identified after step I filtering (187 + 37), while step II filtering identified 25 of these papers for quantitative analysis. The unselected papers (199) were categorized as "actions" because they provided a sounding board for the expected impact of CC on AFB1 contamination, without adding new data on the topic. The remaining papers were considered as "reactions" of the scientific community because they went a step further in their data and ideas. Interesting statements taken from the "reactions" could be summarized with the following keywords: Chain and multi-actor approach, intersectoral and multidisciplinary, resilience, human and animal health, and global vision. In addition, fields meriting increased research efforts were summarized as the improvement of predictive modeling; extension to different crops and geographic areas; and the impact of CC on fungi and mycotoxin co-occurrence, both in crops and their value chains, up to consumers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Camardo Leggieri
- Department of Sustainable Crop Production (DI.PRO.VE.S.), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy;
| | - Piero Toscano
- IBE-CNR, Institute of BioEconomy-National Research Council, Via Giovanni Caproni 8, 50145 Florence, Italy;
| | - Paola Battilani
- Department of Sustainable Crop Production (DI.PRO.VE.S.), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy;
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Neelakantan A, DeFries R, Fanzo J. Food security and livelihoods of post-resettlement households around Kanha National Park. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0243825. [PMID: 33370335 PMCID: PMC7769436 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Globally, conservation efforts have moved millions of people out of protected areas since the 1970s, yet quantitative studies on post-resettlement well-being remain a challenge due to poor documentation. Since 2008, the Indian forest department records demographic and financial details at the household level under standardized guidelines for resettlement. Here, we examine the food security of approximately 600 households' post-resettlement from Kanha National Park (KNP) in central India between 2009 and 2014. We compare food security of resettled households with host community households with a total of 3519 household surveys, conducted over three seasons within one year. We measure food security using food consumption scores (FCSs), coping strategies index (CSI) and household hunger scale (HHS). Food insecurity is widespread in the landscape, with over 80% of households reporting poor or borderline FCSs year-round. Additionally, we recorded food insecurity increases in monsoon for all households regardless of resettlement status. Results indicate that resettled households are comparable to their host community neighbors in FCS and all households use mild coping strategies to combat food insecurity. While widespread, food insecurity in the KNP landscape is not acute with very few (<10) reports of severe hunger (as measured by the HHS). Almost all foods are market bought (>90%) and sometimes supplemented by gathering locally prevalent greens or from kitchen gardens (forest dependency for food was negligible). Accruing assets and diversifying incomes from non-labor avenues would alleviate food insecurity for all households. The patterns of market dependence and food security associated with diversified stable incomes around protected areas is in contrast with many studies but is likely to occur in similar human-dominated landscapes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amrita Neelakantan
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Ruth DeFries
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Jessica Fanzo
- Department of International Health of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United Stated of America
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