Abstract
Poor diets are responsible for more of the global burden of disease than sex, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco combined. Without good health, food security, and nutrition, development is unsustainable. How food is grown, distributed, processed, marketed, and sold determines which foods are available, affordable, and acceptable within the local cultural context. These factors guide food choices, influencing the quality of people’s diets, and hence they play a vital part in health. The food system is complex and is neither nutrition nor health driven. Good nutrition and human health are not seen as important supply chain outcomes, diminishing between the different processes and actors in the chain. This is in contrast to the environmental and labour concerns now also perceived as supply chain issues. Although food loss and waste is now appreciated as key to sustainable food supply chains, the critical role on nutrition security remains obscure. In a free market dispensation, the trade-offs between agricultural production and income generation versus nutrient delivery from farm to fork needs to be addressed. Investment and incentivised initiatives are needed to foster diverse food production, preservation, distribution and influence consumers’ behaviour and consumption. The decisions made at any stage of the food supply chain have implications on consumer choices, dietary patterns, and nutritional outcomes. Leveraging the entire food system is an underused policy response to the growing problem of unhealthy diets.
Highlights
The aim of the present paper is to present and discuss current knowledge on food systems, as well as to identify research gaps
This paper considers issues across the food systems that have a detrimental impact on nutrition, and suggests interventions to address production, postharvest losses and guiding nutritious food choices
Food loss and waste (FLW) reduction has the potential to contribute to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the Zero Hunger goal (SDG 2), which calls for an end to hunger, the achievement of food security and improved nutrition, and the promotion of sustainable agriculture
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Today the majority of the global population cannot access or afford a nutritious diet. Growing per capita incomes lead to noticeable dietary changes, including diversification away from starchy staples, it may have supplied a disproportionately large share of energy, and towards higher-value perishable products like dairy, meat, and horticulture as well as an increased demand for convenience and processed foods [4]. Food systems are complex because they comprise all activities and stakeholders involved in feeding a population—from growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, trading, marketing, consumption, to the disposal of food and food-related items—and can be analysed from many different angles
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
