Food loss and nutrition security: reviewing pre-consumer loss in Australian sheep meat value chains using a planetary health framework.

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Abstract Minimizing pre-consumer losses in agri-food value chains is crucial for planetary health and for reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This action stands to benefit animal, human and environmental health. Comprehensive, quantified-feedback systems along agri-food value chains are needed to achieve this goal. The Australian sheep meat value chain is the second largest in the world and produces lamb meat, mutton meat and offal, in parallel with fine wool. Mutton and lamb meat and sheep offal are nutrient-dense foods. The Australian sheep meat value chain has seen significant gains in monitoring losses in recent decades. The value chain is working towards a more complete feedback system at the producer and processing levels. At an individual level, this will enable producers to predict the economic benefits of managing diseases on-farm. Public benefits may be the redirection of nutrient-dense food into Australian diets, improving the micronutrient status of the population, and conservation of vulnerable rangeland due to increased yield per head of sheep.