News & Comment

Lived experience research recognizes the inherent expertise of communities, and challenges existing power imbalances in policy processes. Yet, without a strong rationale for including community lived experience, researchers, practitioners, community members and policymakers may face pushback when seeking to move community voice to the centre of food systems policy processes.

The concept of ultra-processed food was introduced more than a decade ago. The utility of this concept hinges partly on whether it is framed as the literal level of food processing, which we term ‘ultra-processing formulation’, or as system dynamics, which we term ‘ultra-processing regime’.

Insect farming is a rapidly expanding agricultural sector with the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of livestock production. A holistic approach is needed to use farmed insects responsibly and effectively with broad benefits across food systems.

Octopuses, crabs and lobsters are probably sentient, yet their welfare needs are poorly protected in the food system. Upholding animal welfare in the seafood industry presents challenges, and more research is needed to address humane capture, housing and slaughter.

The proposed benefits of cultured meat fail to track our moral intuitions because they are focused on the practical aspect of cultured meat production and consumption. A virtue-oriented approach can show cultured meat in a different light.

Industry and governments are increasingly investing in cellular agriculture. However, the trajectory of these technologies is likely to reinforce many current food system problems, particularly power asymmetries.

Product-level life-cycle assessments together with global-level integrative scenario assessments can guide the cellular agriculture development process towards greater environmental sustainability.

Technical and social perspectives can highlight the interconnectedness of people, planet and profit in cultured meat production. The sector must engage in the socioeconomics and politics of their technology to avoid greenwashing and enact effective change.

Antibiotic use in livestock and aquaculture production is driving resistance to medically important antibiotics. Producing meat through alternative methods, such as cultivated meat, offers an opportunity to decouple antibiotics from meat.

The burgeoning field of cultured meat is racing to achieve the minimal standards required for market access. We argue that the focus must shift to a higher, mission-based standard based on transparency and collective processes.

Critics of cellular agriculture fear that sector growth will reinforce unjust food system dynamics. Food justice frameworks can inform development and evaluation of the sector’s contribution to fairer and more sustainable food systems.

The dietary and health impacts of ultra-processed foods can be understood across the nutri-biochemical, food and dietary pattern levels. Each level reveals distinct dimensions and characteristics that can inform our scientific analysis and policy responses accordingly.

The practice by which international actors consider and engage with negotiations that influence the food system — food systems diplomacy — has the potential to reframe the global food governance narrative to balance the health, social, environmental and economic domains of food systems.

Few microbiome-based solutions for agricultural productivity, food processing and human nutrition have been successfully commercialized. A systems-based approach that considers the ecology of microbial communities may help finetune extant tools to increase their reliability while promoting innovation and greater adoption.

In every country, a clear national strategy, goals and metrics are needed to end hunger, improve nutrition, reduce diet-related diseases and create a just, sustainable and equitable food system. We identify six policy domains where real change can be made to deliver this vision in the United States.

The Ukraine–Russia war will impact global food security over months if not years. In the wake of COVID-19 and in the face of increasing climate change, we propose responses to a multi-layered global food crisis that mitigate near-term food security risks, stabilize wheat supplies and transition towards long-term agri-food system resilience.

The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without a transformation towards equitable livelihoods. Governments and businesses have an onus to protect and improve the livelihoods of people living in vulnerable situations by creating innovative institutions, policies and investments.

The framing of global food challenges as a matter of producing enough protein deserves critical assessment. We argue that powerful actors in the food system are responding to this apparent protein shortage in a way that deflects from the critical environmental and social challenges associated with conventional livestock production.

Governing food-system transitions requires innovation in the study of impacts and futures. Current approaches to impact assessment require greater complexity in systems modelling and complementation with alternative mechanisms to overcome limitations in scoping, conceptual assumptions and methodologies.

Pesticide-centred crop protection is highly carbon-intensive, with product synthesis, distribution and field application generating up to 136.6 MtCO₂ equivalent per year. Carbon financing offers an opportunity to bring more natural and sustainable alternatives to scale.