The theme of this year’s #WorldFoodDay is “Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.” In celebration of this theme, we are proud to offer a publicly available special collection including more than 40 carefully curated book chapters and journal articles to shine a spotlight on water as the foundation for life and food. This campaign raises awareness for the importance of managing water wisely as the availability of this precious resource is threatened by rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change. Download and share this impactful content today.
This article brings together the speakers from the Symposium and presents a synthesis and summary of 3 of the world’s biggest problems in the 21st century: the burden of malnutrition and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), the consequences of climate change, and the massive economic and social inequities within and among nations. All 3 are directly related to sustainable food systems that are shared collectively and globally.
The results in this paper have implications for consumers and policy makers, as well as other food system actors. Consumers following individual strategies can make important contributions towards more sustainable food systems. To facilitate this shift, changes in food environments are needed and a coordinated action plan with coherent policies that targets a thorough redesign of the food system, including several of the proposed strategies, is needed to achieve large systemic effects. This could encompass suitable education measures, incentives, as well as rules for production, processing, retail, gastronomy, transport, and consumption.
Ultrafiltration with ceramic membranes of olive oil washing wastewater has been demonstrated to be an interesting alternative as a previous step for the recovery of phenolic compounds, which have outstanding antioxidant characteristics. In this way, the treatment of these wastewaters should be based on reusing water and, at the same time, on recovering valuable compounds.
This chapter aligns with Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing and Goal 12: Responsible Consumption by making public policymakers and nutrition marketers aware of how food and nourishment are linked to environmental conditions, as well as how sustainable approaches in nutrition marketing enhance positive behavior and build healthy societies.
This chapter aligns with Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption, and Goal 15: Life on Land by acknowledging how the conservation of water resources is imperative to the continued sustainability of life, particularly in arid regions. By utilizing resources in a highly managed, efficient and targeted way for agricultural purposes there is less lost to waste.
This chapter aligns with Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, and Goal 13: Climate Action by exploring how extreme flooding has significant implications for local, regional, and national populations, particularly regarding agriculture and food supply.
This chapter aligns with Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and Goal 13: Climate Action by discussing the role and challenges of wastewater irrigation in agriculture in response to declining freshwater resources.
This chapter aligns with Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and 6: Clean Water and Sanitation by reviewing Kenya's inland, coastal and marine resources, their associated stressors and key recommendations to promote societal benefits and enhance sustainable management of these aquatic resources.
This chapter aligns with Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and Goal 13: Climate Action by exploring the potential of AI in facilitating agricultural water management in the context of climate change and water scarcity.
This chapter aligns with Goal 2: Zero Hunger and Goal 12: Responsible Consumption by exploring the energy and water consumption needs of microalgal production for food production to determine whether microalgae can be considered a sustainable food.
This chapter aligns with Goal 2: Zero Hunger and Goal 12: Responsible Consumption by considering plant-based meat alternatives as a sustainable approach to provide affordable and nutritious meat substitutes in a world with growing human consumption demands.
In concluding, the authors of this paper suggest the introduction of a policy and research agenda that addresses the multiple water–nutrition linkages (the reliable availability, accessibility, and quality of water for all household uses) that will advance our ability to ensure equitable access to healthy foods and safe water for all.
The anticipated effects of climate change on microbial food safety are both direct (e.g., on microbial prevalence) and indirect (e.g., increased risk of floods on water microbial contamination). This paper highlights the necessity to build a quantitative framework to evaluate the effects of climate change on microbial food safety.
Examines whether and how online food delivery improves equity. Indicates that local residents' divergent needs of online and onsite services should be simultaneously accounted for to address the equity issues and improve the service accessibility of socially disadvantaged groups.
Complementary Feeding (CF) involves an array of behaviors ranging from producing or purchasing food to preparing and feeding it to the child. Nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions support different dimensions of improved CF, including dietary diversity, adequate frequency and daily intake, food hygiene, responsive feeding, and parenting practices. Beyond messages specific to what to feed young children, interventions to improve CF could address norms related to early child development; family dynamics; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
The authors of this paper conclude that reducing Ultraprocessed Drink Consumption could lower environmental impact and all-cause mortality risk; however, this was not shown for Ultraprocessed Foods. When categorizing food consumption by their degree of processing, trade-offs are observed for human and planetary health aspects.
In the face of grand challenges for society to eliminate hunger and improve planetary and human health, thoughtful investments in the agricultural sector can make a difference, but there is a critical need to look beyond production of calories and toward more healthy diets and food systems. Modeling the impacts of alternative future pathways for Disability-Sdjusted Life Years (DALYs) can help inform the discussion.
The study presents a new approach to analyzing the relations between sustainability indicators, foods, and macronutrients and establishes that proteins, irrespective of the source of protein, are driving dietary environmental and economic impacts.
This papers demonstrates how simple substitutions can be made in individuals’ diets to substantially reduce their carbon and water scarcity footprints without sacrificing dietary quality. Such substitutions may be easier to promote than complex dietary patterns.
Food preservatives are important to reduce food spoilage caused by microorganisms preventing loss of its quality and nutritive value. In this research, a new way to isolate the organic nanodots from edible freshwater blue green microalgae has been developed as a natural food preservative.
Food systems are a major driver of environmental change, responsible for rapid deforestation, water scarcity, and an estimated 30%–34% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Findings in this paper point to the capacity of plant-sourced food consumption to minimize environmental harm without necessarily jeopardizing nutrient availability in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Local agriculture can contribute to food system sustainability by producing diversified plant-sourced foods, cornerstones of many traditional food customs, and mitigating the impacts of industrialized livestock operations and imported, animal-centric dietary habits.
In this special article, the authors call for nutrition scientists to collaborate with other sectors, disciplines, and experts to develop a more nuanced understanding of how specific shifts in food systems can have broad impacts on sustainability and to bring about food policy changes in the era of climate disruption and environmental degradation.
The authors' goals of this study (associated with 13 dietary patterns or scenarios) are to assess 1) to what extent current food utilization in Indonesia (2 patterns) provides for meeting health and nutrition targets and how its GHGe (greenhouse gas emissions) and water footprints compare to global targets; and 2) how alternative dietary scenarios, optimized to meet nutrient needs at the lowest possible cost (7 scenarios) or designed to be more healthy and environmentally friendly (4 scenarios), compare to current food patterns for nutrient content, agricultural contributions to climate change, and freshwater conservation, as well as cost.
The articles's focus on using Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to remove drugs and emerging pollutants from wastewater directly relates to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It particularly aligns with Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) by addressing the issue of water pollution and promoting the removal of harmful substances from aqueous environments. It also connects with Goal 14 (Life Below Water) and Goal 15 (Life on Land) by aiming to protect ecosystems and aquatic life from the detrimental effects of drug pollution, ultimately contributing to environmental preservation and human well-being.
Biofilms are a major challenge for the food industry, due to their ability to contaminate surfaces. Foam flow cleaning successfully removed a significant part of one-day biofilms grown on stainless steel surfaces. Life cycle analyses showed that the foam flow process reduces all environmental impacts, mainly due to the reduction in water and energy consumption, which is a crucial contemporary issue.
The article emphasizes the critical need to address the water-food-carbon nexus for sustainable agriculture amidst water scarcity and climate change. Agricultural practices consume large water volumes and generate significant greenhouse gases (GHGs), with consumer food choices indirectly influencing these impacts. Regional dietary patterns further complicate sustainability efforts. The review highlights the importance of reducing water use and GHG emissions in agriculture, promoting plant-based diets for environmental and health benefits, and incorporating comprehensive footprint assessments and socio-hydrology in future research.
The findings of this study suggest further review and consideration of a multipronged approach of integrated nutrition, menstrual hygiene management, and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions at the school level to improve adolescent nutrition and health.
The roadmapping exercise looking at the quantitative modelling of cleaning and decontamination held in 2021 identified a number of factors as common to cleaning and decontamination across many sectors. Tackling new challenges such as the food-water-energy nexus and the wider sustainability agenda means that Sinner’s circle, often used to frame discussions of cleaning in the food sector, needs an upgrade.
Anemia affects more than half of Nepalese children aged 6–59 months. Although prevalence varies year to year, the stability of observed risk factors suggests the need to focus on reducing gastrointestinal infection, promoting adequate household sanitation, and improving maternal and child health.
The objective of this paper was to upport the development of an integrated water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and nutrition, social, and behavior change strategy aimed at reducing stunting, formative research was conducted in 2 program sites in western Kenya.
Mango fruits are a rich source of nutrients, however, due to their perishability and seasonality, minimal processing and drying offer the potential ensure a shelf stable and safe product. The use of sodium metabisulphite (SMB) as pre-treatment in the dried fruit industry has been widely adopted, but sulphite residue remains a health public concern. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of alkaline and acidic electrolyzed water (AIEW and AEW, mg/mL) as alternative pre-treatments to SMB (1% w/w) for ‘Tommy Atkins’ mango slices prior to hot air drying at 60 °C.
This Health Policy paper supports SDGs 3, 15, and 17, among others, by exploring the potential values and risks of establishing an Intergovernmental Panel for One Health (IPOH), with the aim of contributing to addressing other global challenges, such as food and water safety and environmental degradation in the context of One Health.
This Health Policy paper supports SDGs 2, 3, and 13, by identifying and examining the debates that arose from the publication of the EAT–Lancet Commission, systematically examining how research has been directly influenced by the Commission, and synthesising identified research gaps to build a research agenda for healthy and sustainable food systems.
Drinking water and sanitation services in high-income countries typically bring widespread health and other benefits to their populations. Yet gaps in this essential public health infrastructure persist, driven by structural inequalities, racism, poverty, housing instability, migration, climate change, insufficient continued investment, and poor planning.
Background: A large part of the existential threat associated with climate change is the result of current human feeding patterns. Over the last decade, research evaluating the diet-related environmental impacts of plant-based diets has emerged, and a synthesis of the available data is now due.
This paper concludes that ASF (animal-source foods) production generally has a large environmental impact; yet, when produced at an appropriate scale and in accordance with local ecosystems and contexts, livestock can play an important role in circular and diverse agroecosystems that, in certain circumstances, can help restore biodiversity and degraded land, mitigate Green House Gas emissions from food production, and contribute to food security and nutrition for populations worldwide.
Marine aquaculture is predicted to serve an important role in alleviating pressure on fisheries and land-based food production, but aquaculture will not be sustainable without continued innovations in the aquaculture sector. Strong governance and economic conditions play a small but highly significant role in the development of marine aquaculture speices