Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01212-0
Nicole Bamber, Ian Turner, Nathan Pelletier
{"title":"Rapeseed, wheat and peas grown in Canada have considerably lower carbon footprints than those from major international competitors","authors":"Nicole Bamber, Ian Turner, Nathan Pelletier","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01212-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01212-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A carbon footprint analysis following the ISO 14067 standard reveals that Canadian field crops have generally much lower footprints than those of international competitors due to differences in soil carbon flux and nitrous oxide emissions. Transportation-to-market of Canadian crops is proportionately important, but related emissions are often more than offset by low production-related emissions. In extreme cases, Canadian crops could be shipped to western European markets an additional 17 times before their carbon footprint would break even with crops grown in Europe.</p>","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144778485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01204-0
Shahriar Kibriya, Naureen Fatema
{"title":"Data collection in fragile states","authors":"Shahriar Kibriya, Naureen Fatema","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01204-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01204-0","url":null,"abstract":"Monitoring food security in regions experiencing multiple crises remains challenging. Satellite imagery combined with artificial intelligence can now estimate food availability in the fragile state of Yangon, Myanmar.","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01192-1
Ben Belton, Peixun Fang, Shuo Liu, Kaifeng Zhang, Xiaobo Zhang
{"title":"Geospatial analysis enables combined poultry–fish farm monitoring in the fragile state of Myanmar","authors":"Ben Belton, Peixun Fang, Shuo Liu, Kaifeng Zhang, Xiaobo Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01192-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01192-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Food security is challenging to measure in fragile contexts. Here we combine data from previous field surveys with remotely sensed images and apply deep-learning techniques to estimate changes in the number and area of chicken houses on integrated chicken–fish farms and the supply of chicken meat and eggs from 2010 to 2023 in Yangon region, Myanmar. Yangon’s poultry sector grew ~10% annually from 2010 to 2020 but contracted ~8% annually from 2020 to 2023.</p>","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z
Madhura Rao
{"title":"Traditional knowledge at the centre of a circular bioeconomy","authors":"Madhura Rao","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mainstream bioeconomic strategies often prioritize uniformity and marketability, transforming biological materials into standardized feedstocks and codifying knowledge into intellectual property, with success measured by the extent to which these innovations can be scaled and replicated across geographies<sup>2</sup>. Although such an approach facilitates broad application, it frequently severs biological materials from the ecological contexts and stewardship necessary for their sustained use and regeneration. By contrast, traditional knowledge systems, that is, skills, practices and insights that emerge from a community’s long-standing relationship with its environment, approach these resources not as commodities, but as components of living systems<sup>3</sup>. Guided by principles of restraint, reciprocity and adaptive reuse, traditional knowledge systems have historically enabled circular flows of food, nutrients and energy<sup>4</sup>.</p><p>Given the climate impacts of industrial food production and the pressure to feed a growing population, the food system is an important focus of circular bioeconomy experimentation<sup>1</sup>. When applied to food, circularity is usually framed through the lens of food waste valorization: transforming surplus and discarded food into new food products, compost, biogas and animal feed among other things. Today, innovation in this area is often seen as groundbreaking, even radical. Yet, the underlying logic of extending the utility of biological materials through cascading uses is hardly novel. Agrarian societies across the world have long managed food and nutrient flows through practices that are, in essence, circular. For instance, in the Andean highlands, surplus potatoes are freeze-dried into chuño for long-term storage under extreme climatic conditions. In parts of West Africa, cassava peels and harvest residues are detoxified through fermentation and reused as livestock feed, reducing both waste and feed costs. In the Mediterranean region, citrus peels are candied, made into liqueurs, used in cleaning products and fed to livestock. Korean households have historically preserved excess or blemished vegetables by fermenting them into kimchi, extending shelf life and maintaining nutritional value across seasons. Coastal and Arctic Indigenous communities reuse fish heads, bones, skins and viscera not only for broths and nutritional supplements, but also for traditional medicines and skin salves.</p>","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"115 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01206-y
Jeroen Candel, Anne J. Sietsma, Robbert Biesbroek
{"title":"National pathways for food systems transformation are limited in scope and degree of ambition","authors":"Jeroen Candel, Anne J. Sietsma, Robbert Biesbroek","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01206-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01206-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>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.</p>","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"97 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144677799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01190-3
Ningqi Wang, Gaofei Jiang, Zhong Wei
{"title":"Soil drivers of food-borne pathogen persistence","authors":"Ningqi Wang, Gaofei Jiang, Zhong Wei","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01190-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01190-3","url":null,"abstract":"A study of Escherichia coli O157:H7 survival in soils across eastern China highlights the role of soil properties in pathogen persistence and the need for policies to reduce food-borne disease risks from soil reservoirs.","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144629924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01203-1
David B. Lobell, Richard J. Lee
{"title":"Crop productivity in southern Africa is stagnant despite moderate climate trends","authors":"David B. Lobell, Richard J. Lee","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01203-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01203-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Southern Africa faces high food insecurity and projected declines in agroclimatic conditions. Multiple satellite measures indicate that cropland productivity has stagnated for most of the region except South Africa in the past 20 years, in contrast to what official crop statistics suggest. Climate trends do not explain this stagnation, with the region experiencing more rainfall and less warming than most climate model projections. A change of course is needed before climate impacts accelerate.</p>","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144630056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01209-9
{"title":"Preparing more effectively for food crises","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01209-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01209-9","url":null,"abstract":"As global shocks intensify and forecasting technologies advance, investing in food crisis preparedness — rather than waiting until crises fully unfold — has never been more urgent or achievable.","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144629925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-14DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01199-8
Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Dariush Mozaffarian
{"title":"US federal and state actions can improve food ingredient safety","authors":"Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Dariush Mozaffarian","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01199-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01199-8","url":null,"abstract":"A safe food supply is critical to the health and future of nations. The new US administration has issued robustly worded intentions to address unsafe food ingredients, yet with voluntary proposals and conflicting priorities. Additionally, states are rapidly innovating around ingredient bans, warnings and public disclosures. A review of these federal and state actions reveals specific ways they might materially advance food ingredient safety.","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144622295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature FoodPub Date : 2025-07-14DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01202-2
{"title":"Indirect emissions from food systems result in substantial and unequal health burdens","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01202-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01202-2","url":null,"abstract":"Food system emissions extend beyond farms to supporting sectors, such as energy, transport and processing. Tracing these indirect emissions reveals they now account for one-quarter of mortality attributable to food-related air pollution from fine particulate matter in China. Low-income groups bear a disproportionately high health burden, whereas high-income groups avoid a considerable share.","PeriodicalId":19090,"journal":{"name":"Nature Food","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144622296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}