National pathways for food systems transformation are limited in scope and degree of ambition

Abstract

The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) marked a key moment in deliberating a transformation of the global food system. At the same time, the UNFSS process received considerable criticism for alleged industry capture and high symbolism. Here we assess the extent to which the summit has contributed to ambitious policy follow-up at national level. Using natural language processing tools, we systematically analyse and compare the content of 124 national food system pathway documents. We find that food production dominates these pathways, while issues such as food distribution, processing, consumption, environmental impacts, labour conditions and animal welfare receive minimal attention. Despite different national food system challenges, the pathways show limited variation in topics raised, closely following predefined global agendas. Our results suggest that the policy directions of UNFSS national pathways are mainly within the current food system, while more fundamental critiques of the food system are not raised.