Advancing the Role of Food Processing for Improved Integration in Sustainable Food Chains

Inclusive diets within planetary boundaries

Chronic hunger and malnutrition will eventually result from the population’s rapid growth. It is unlikely to succeed in tackling the rising challenges of delivering sustainable food for all people unless high attention is paid on the function of food processing to ensure the supply of stable food. It is impossible to overstate the importance of developing food processing and preservation technologies that can reduce food losses and wastage during surplus seasons. Therefore, sustainable food systems must be developed to provide healthy diets without damaging our world and its resources. The goal is to use various perspectives to confirm why food processing is crucial to future food supply. It is important to show the appropriate utilization of sustainability factors and effect assessments to construct for feeding the globe while staying within planetary limits. There has never been a better time to assure a plentiful food supply to feed the people than right now, when the population is expanding at a worrying rate. The sustainable food project seeks to move the food systems in a long-term, more equitable direction. Food processing, or the conversion of raw materials into functional, edible, and consumer acceptable food, is a critical link in the food value chain between consumption and production. This review looked at various existing and emerging food processing followed by preservation techniques. Food systems must also attempt to reduce food waste and losses, as well as the current and future impacts on the environment and society, to be sustainable.

Feeding the world in a narrowing safe operating space

Achieving dietary micronutrient adequacy in a finite world

Food industry and engineering—Quo vadis?

From value chains to food webs: The quest for lasting food systems

Agriculture, food and global value chains: issues, methods and challenges

An increasing global population and harsh climate conditions are challenging most crops and contribute to threats of food insecurity. It is crucial to identify food sources that are sustainable and resilient. This review aims to provide insights into how date palm and camels can act as two major resilient and sustainable food sources to meet the requirements of the increasing global population and sustain fragile climatic conditions, especially those prevailing in dry arid regions. The date palms can withstand high temperatures (≈50°C), tolerate high salinity (12 dS m −1 ), possess innate physiological features to retain water, have coping mechanisms to overcome abiotic stress, and have a shoot system that can absorb ≈200 kg of carbon dioxide per year. Furthermore, date palm fruit can be considered a sustainable food source due to their nutritional benefits and contribution to the circular economy. On the other hand, camels are resilient animals because they have better anatomical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to harsh climatic conditions. In addition, camel milk and its diversified products offer a multitude of health and nutritional benefits, making it a sustainable food source. Together, date palm and camels align with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN‐SDGs) 2 and 12 due to their resilience and sustainability in producing nutritious food, their even in adverse climatic conditions. This comprehensive review of utilizing date palm and camels as resilient and sustainable food sources can provide a platform to develop new practices and policies based on future foods for global food security challenges.

<scp>IFST</scp> vision for a <scp>UK</scp>‐wide national food strategy

Technology offers sustainable nutrition solutions

Human nutrition is a key component of the definitions of both sustainable food systems and sustainable healthy diets, and features prominently in the Sustainable Development Goals. However, progress towards complete nutrition and food security for the entire global population is poor, and the burden of malnutrition and food insecurity is felt in countries of all income levels, including in Oceania. While countries like Australia and New Zealand (NZ) are widely perceived as sources of high-quality food exported overseas due to great surpluses above national requirement, this hides domestic issues. The international nutrition community recognises and are demanding that our food systems must be sustainable, which is not yet the case anywhere in Oceania. Food insecurity at the household level is not uncommon, nor are nutrient deficiencies. It is often presumed that, should the inequitable distribution of food be balanced, these challenges would disappear. However, food supply and trade data show that even at the national and regional levels, insufficient food and nutrient supplies to meet population requirements are the established norm. For example, it has been demonstrated that domestic vegetable production falls short of NZ dietary recommendations, with imports making a negligible difference other than via energy dense crops(1). Likewise, after consideration of trade, NZ has undersupplies of calcium, potassium, vitamins C and E, and dietary fibre compared to population requirements(2). A wealth of data exists quantifying food production, trade, and availability and various scales. Increasingly, researchers are matching these to human requirements, whether at the food or nutrient level, to identify gaps(3). Insights generated from these data-driven approaches are being directed at trade policy, enabling decisions that can realise aspirational goals to reduce food insecurity through international trade. Making this data accessible to all via interactive user interfaces promotes wider engagement, understanding, and dissemination of findings. It also allows stakeholders in various countries to identify their own vulnerabilities, both as a result of current undersupplies, and due to high reliance on trading partners for food and nutrition security. Trade data can also be connected to environmental measures to identify scenarios where trade can be leveraged to the benefit of both nutrition and broader sustainability goals(4). High level, data driven approaches are not a substitute for individual-based studies on nutrition, but are a useful complement to them. With regionally or nationally deficient food and nutrient supplies, complete nutrition for individuals cannot be attained. A holistic, system-wide understanding is necessary for any policy decisions to advance nutrition.

Region-specific nutritious, environmentally friendly, and affordable diets in India

Chapter 10 - Food Processing Technologies and Value Addition for Improved Food Safety and Security

Aquatic food systems are important contributors to global food security to satisfy an intensifying demand for protein‐based diets, but global economic growth threatens marine systems. Cephalopod (octopus, squid and cuttlefish) fisheries can contribute to food security; however, their sustainable exploitation requires understanding connections between nature's contributions to people (NCP), food system policies and human wellbeing. Our global literature review methodology examined what is known about cephalopod food systems, value chains and supply chains, and associated market drivers. For analysis, we followed the IPBES conceptual framework to build a map of the links between cephalopod market drivers, NCP and good quality of life (GQL). Then we mapped cephalopod food system dynamics onto IPBES (in)direct drivers of change relating to catch, trade and consumption. This research contributes knowledge about key factors relating to cephalopods that can support transitions towards increased food security: the value of new aquatic food species; food safety and authenticity systems; place‐based innovations and empowerment of communities; and consumer behaviour, lifestyle and motivations for better health and environmental sustainability along the food value chain. We outline requirements for a sustainable, equitable cephalopod food system policy landscape that values nature's contributions to people, considers UN Sustainable Development Goals and emphasises the role of seven overlapping IPBES (in)direct drivers of change: Economic, Governance, Sociocultural and Socio‐psychological, Technological, Direct Exploitation, Natural Processes and Pollution. We present a novel market‐based adaptation of the IPBES conceptual framework—our ‘cephalopod food system framework’, to represent how the cephalopod food system functions and how it can inform processes to improve sustainability and equity of the cephalopod food system. This synthesised knowledge provides the basis for diagnosing opportunities (e.g. high demand for products) and constraints (e.g. lack of data about how supply chain drivers link to cephalopod NCP) to be considered regarding the role of cephalopods in transformations towards a resilient and more diversified seafood production system. This social–ecological systems approach could apply to other wild harvest commodities with implications for diverse marine species and ecosystems and can inform those working to deliver marine and terrestrial food security while preserving biodiversity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Any food systems applied has to ensure that the food is secure for the people. Nutritional needs are considered integral to the food security concept and sustainability is also important. One of the nutritional needs in food is protein. Proteins mostly obtained from animal-based sources such as meat and fish, plant-based proteins, particularly legumes. However, the production of meat, more importantly ruminant meat is more and more argued for some issues including environment, food safety, and animal welfare. In order to ensure sustainable protein production, the dietary change would be to use alternative protein sources such as insects. In general, insects have high protein content and excellent production efficiency compared with other conventional protein food groups. It is necessarily important to develop the use of insects in various forms, including pastes or powders, concentrates or isolates which can be used further as ingredients or fortified agents in new food product formulations. This paper therefore explores the feature of edible insects as sustainable and viable food source that can contribute to food security including, types of edible insects as food and their nutritional compositions; and processing of edible insects. In conclusion, insects can contribute to sustainable food and nutritional security and be a part of the solution to protein shortages. Insect protein concentrates could potentially be an alternative protein source in food formulation.