News & Comment

COVID-19 pandemic movement restrictions as part of the control measures put in place by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has implications on food security, as movement restrictions coincided with planting periods for most of the staple crops. The measures are affecting important staple crops in SSA, and are likely to exacerbate food security challenges in many countries. Achieving adequate food supply in SSA requires developing better policies and packages to confronting the challenge of reducing hunger post COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned after COVID-19 crisis will be very important for African countries to rethink their strategies and policies for sustainable economic growth, as COVID-19 many have significant impacts on all sectors of their economies.

Olfactory and gustatory stimuli can elicit potent emotional responses and are essential in food perception. Yet, main theories of emotion often under-represent them, and our understanding of affective phenomena relies mostly on experimental studies conducted on visual and auditory stimuli. Although evidence is still accumulating today, recent findings suggest that the COVID-19 is associated with a loss in olfaction and/or taste. Here, I discuss how this unprecedented and uncommon spread of the loss of olfaction and/or taste worldwide may enlighten how emotional both these senses are and how much they influence food perception.