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Future Challenges for the Food System: Approaches, Solutions, and Policies for Sustainability and Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 March 2023) | Viewed by 22590

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Banterle

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, via G. Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
Interests: consumer behavior; supply chain management; traceability; agri-food economics; food policies
Prof. Dr. Alessia Cavaliere

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, Milano 20133, Italy
Interests: food choices; food labeling; consumer behavior; food; policy; innovation in the food sector
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Elisa De Marchi

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, via G. Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
Interests: food choices; consumer behavior; sustainability; circular economy; time preference

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Humanity is facing major challenges regarding all dimensions of sustainability, requiring substantial changes from social, economic, and environmental standpoints. There is an urgent need to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of both production and consumption activities while safeguarding peoples’ health, the needs of the most disadvantaged population segments, as well as economic growth, especially in consideration of the consequences that the global pandemic is posing. All these goals, which advocate for technological innovation, cannot be achieved without involving the rethinking of the current food system and its functioning. Food producers are called to provide more and more nutritious food at a lower cost for the environment, and consumers must redirect their food consumption habits towards more heathy and sustainable patterns. At the same time, it is essential that policy makers accompany this transition with targeted and effective food policy measures. Papers addressing these topics that combine rigorous scientific approaches and a practical focus on providing food policy indications are welcomed for submission to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Banterle
Prof. Dr. Alessia Cavaliere
Dr. Elisa De Marchi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • healthy food choices
  • sustainable food consumption
  • sustainable food production
  • food policy
  • technological innovation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 364 KiB  
Article
Gendered Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Behaviors in North Africa: Cases of Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia
by Tarek Ben Hassen, Hamid El Bilali, Mohammad S. Allahyari, Islam Mohamed Kamel, Hanen Ben Ismail, Hajer Debbabi and Khaled Sassi
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 2192; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042192 - 15 Feb 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3158
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic-related measures in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region have resulted in many lifestyle modifications, including changes in diet and food buying patterns among adults. However, the pandemic has impacted women and men differently and exacerbated existing socio-economic and [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic-related measures in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region have resulted in many lifestyle modifications, including changes in diet and food buying patterns among adults. However, the pandemic has impacted women and men differently and exacerbated existing socio-economic and gender inequalities. Indeed, numerous studies conducted worldwide have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had a disproportionately negative impact on women compared to males. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on women’s food behaviors in three countries of the North Africa sub-region, namely, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. The study was based on an online poll conducted by SurveyMonkey from 15 September to 5 November 2020, with 995 participants. The outcomes of the research found that when compared to men, (1) women tend to consume more food out of fear, anxiety, or boredom; (2) women prefer to eat more unhealthy food; (3) women tend to stockpile a greater amount of food; and (4) women tend to modify their shopping habits more often. The findings should inform gender-sensitive strategies and policies to address the negative impacts of the pandemic and foster transition towards healthier diets and resilient food systems during the recovery period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Challenges for the Food System: Approaches, Solutions, and Policies for Sustainability and Health)
19 pages, 748 KiB  
Article
Comparison of the Purchasing Behaviour of Polish and United Kingdom Consumers in the Organic Food Market during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Julia Wojciechowska-Solis, Aleksandra Kowalska, Milena Bieniek, Monika Ratajczyk and Louise Manning
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(3), 1137; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031137 - 20 Jan 2022
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6472
Abstract
The main objective of the study was to compare young consumer purchasing behaviour towards organic food in Poland (PL) and the United Kingdom (UK), countries with different levels of organic market maturity. The study was conducted by means of an online survey questionnaire [...] Read more.
The main objective of the study was to compare young consumer purchasing behaviour towards organic food in Poland (PL) and the United Kingdom (UK), countries with different levels of organic market maturity. The study was conducted by means of an online survey questionnaire during the COVID-19 pandemic between December 2020 and February 2021. The sample consisted of 862 PL and 161 UK consumers. 31% of PL respondents and 58.4% of UK respondents indicated they purchase organic products. Descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney U test and the two proportion Z test were used for statistical analyses. The results indicate that young consumers pay particular attention to the freshness and quality of consumed products. Concern for their own health and that of their loved ones, as well as the desire to eat better-quality products were the main motivations for the respondents to purchase organic products. Organic vegetables and fruits, eggs, dairy products, and meat and meat products, were among the most frequently purchased products in the studied cohorts. Experts (e.g., a dietitian, physician) were declared to be the first source of information concerning food products for young consumers. Next, family members were indicated. Social media content (PL respondents) and information from websites managed by institutions (UK respondents) were mentioned as the third source. UK consumers preferred short supply chains. The present study can be used by government bodies and companies to select the most effective communication channels for education and advertising and to develop effective commercial strategies aimed at young consumers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Challenges for the Food System: Approaches, Solutions, and Policies for Sustainability and Health)
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11 pages, 383 KiB  
Article
Food Losses and Waste: A Needed Assessment for Future Policies
by Pilar Campoy-Muñoz, Manuel Alejandro Cardenete, María del Carmen Delgado and Ferran Sancho
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11586; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111586 - 4 Nov 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3985
Abstract
About one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. For this reason, food losses and waste has become a key priority within worldwide policy circles. This is a major global issue that not only threatens the viability of a [...] Read more.
About one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. For this reason, food losses and waste has become a key priority within worldwide policy circles. This is a major global issue that not only threatens the viability of a sustainable food system but also generates negative externalities in environmental terms. The avoidance of this forbidding wastage would have a positive economic impact on national economies in terms of resource savings. In this paper we look beyond this somewhat traditional resource savings angle and we shift the focus to explore the distributional consequences of food losses and waste reduction using a resource constrained modeling perspective. The impact due to the behavioral shift of each household is therefore explained by two factors. One is the amount of resources saved when the behavioral shift takes place, whereas the other one has to do with the position of households in the food supply chain. By considering the whole supply chain, instead of the common approach based only in reducing waste by consumers, we enrich the empirical knowledge of this issue and improve the quantification of its economic impact. We examine data for three EU countries that present different economic structures (Germany, Spain and Poland) so as to have a broader and more robust viewpoint of the potential results. We find that distributional effects are different for consumers and producers and also across countries. Our results could be useful for policymakers since they indicate that policies should not be driven merely by the size waste but rather on its position within the food supply chain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Challenges for the Food System: Approaches, Solutions, and Policies for Sustainability and Health)
18 pages, 1341 KiB  
Article
Policy Inertia on Regulating Food Marketing to Children: A Case Study of Malaysia
by SeeHoe Ng, Bridget Kelly, Heather Yeatman, Boyd Swinburn and Tilakavati Karupaiah
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(18), 9607; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189607 - 12 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4187
Abstract
Unhealthy food marketing shapes children’s preference towards obesogenic foods. In Malaysia, policies regulating this food marketing were rated as poor compared to global standards, justifying the need to explore barriers and facilitators during policy development and implementation processes. The case study incorporated qualitative [...] Read more.
Unhealthy food marketing shapes children’s preference towards obesogenic foods. In Malaysia, policies regulating this food marketing were rated as poor compared to global standards, justifying the need to explore barriers and facilitators during policy development and implementation processes. The case study incorporated qualitative methods, including historical mapping, semi-structured interviews with key informants and a search of cited documents. Nine participants were interviewed, representing the Federal government (n = 5), food industry (n = 2) and civil society (n = 2). Even though the mandatory approach to government-led regulation of food marketing to children was the benchmark, more barriers than facilitators in the policy process led to industry self-regulations in Malaysia. Cited barriers were the lack of political will, industry resistance, complexity of legislation, technical challenges, and lack of resources, particularly professional skills. The adoption of industry self-regulation created further barriers to subsequent policy advancement. These included implementer indifference (industry), lack of monitoring, poor stakeholder relations, and policy characteristics linked to weak criteria and voluntary uptake. These underlying barriers, together with a lack of sustained public health advocacy, exacerbated policy inertia. Key recommendations include strengthening pro-public health stakeholder partnerships, applying sustained efforts in policy advocacy to overcome policy inertia, and conducting monitoring for policy compliance and accountability. These form the key lessons for advocating policy reforms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Challenges for the Food System: Approaches, Solutions, and Policies for Sustainability and Health)
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Review

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16 pages, 397 KiB  
Review
Considering Ecosystem Services in Food System Resilience
by Yevheniia Varyvoda and Douglas Taren
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(6), 3652; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063652 - 19 Mar 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3790
Abstract
The prevalence and severity of natural hazards pose a serious risk to food systems, undermining their function to provide food security and improved nutrition. The impact of such events is extensive, and the level of damage and recovery significantly depend on ecosystem services, [...] Read more.
The prevalence and severity of natural hazards pose a serious risk to food systems, undermining their function to provide food security and improved nutrition. The impact of such events is extensive, and the level of damage and recovery significantly depend on ecosystem services, including their own resilience capacity. This paper provides evidence that the role, value, and utilization of local ecosystem services are essential for food system resilience and for food security in parts of the world where high vulnerability and lack of coping capacity exist to combat climate change. Patterns of ecosystem services-based strategies were revealed that can be introduced to cope and adapt to climate-related natural hazards at the smallholder food system level. The study suggests that food system diversification, technological innovations and nature-based practices, and traditional and indigenous knowledge operationalized across the food system components have a potential for sustaining smallholder resilience in the face of natural hazards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Challenges for the Food System: Approaches, Solutions, and Policies for Sustainability and Health)
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