Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102976
Yu Jin , Jiehong Zhou
{"title":"Food safety, sampling inspection and optimization of regulatory resource allocation: Evidence from China’s aquatic food inspection","authors":"Yu Jin , Jiehong Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102976","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102976","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Food safety is a widespread problem that challenge regulatory bodies and consumers around the world. Earlier studies emphasized resources as the key to improving regulatory effectiveness, but our study suggests this common sense should be reexamined, especially in the context of increasing regulatory burdens in food safety. Using China’s aquatic food safety sampling inspection data with over 300,000 samples from 2014 to 2022, we examine the effects of sampling inspection on the failure rate of aquatic foods, and try to identify supply chain segments where more regulatory resources should be allocated. The results show that increasing the number of sampling inspections significantly reduces both the failure rate in aquatic foods, but the effects of increased sampling inspection on improving aquatic food quality follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. Increasing the intensity of sampling inspections targeting the upstream segment in the supply chain can significantly reduce the failure rate of aquatic foods in the downstream segments. Moreover, increasing the frequency of sampling inspections is more effective in reducing the failure rate in high-risk segments of the aquatic food supply chain, such as restaurants, online stores, wet markets, wholesale markets, and fresh food retailers. Our study highlights the crucial impact of regulatory bodies sampling inspection on reducing the failure rate of aquatic foods, and in particular provides policy implications for optimizing the allocation of regulatory resources in different supply chain segments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 102976"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145340331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102970
Maguette Sembene, Bradford Mills, Anubhab Gupta
{"title":"Economic costs of extreme heat on groundnut production in the Senegal Groundnut Basin","authors":"Maguette Sembene, Bradford Mills, Anubhab Gupta","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102970","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102970","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Historical data show a rising trend in extreme heat in the past four decades in the Groundnut Basin of Senegal. We evaluate the economic costs of extreme heat on groundnut production in the region. Using temperature data from the ERA5 global climate reanalysis, we define extreme heat degree days (EHDDs) as the cumulative number of degree days above 35 °C during the groundnut growing season and estimate its effect on quasi-profits and yields at the person, household, and field levels utilizing a two-year panel data of 1,123 households. Our econometric estimations show that an additional EHDD reduces quasi-profits by 5,460 FCFA per hectare and significantly lowers yield by 2.5%. Further, rainfall interactions with EHDD generate compounding losses under high heat and rainfall. The findings highlight important and often unseen effects of increasing temperatures on agricultural practices in climate-vulnerable areas such as the Groundnut Basin and underscore the need for adaptation and mitigation strategies to cope with the impacts of climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102970"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102972
Josep Lloret , Mar Vila-Belmonte , Angel Izquierdo , Joan San , Sebastian Biton-Porsmoguer
{"title":"The unsustainability of the Omega-3 supply from seafood in the Mediterranean under global change","authors":"Josep Lloret , Mar Vila-Belmonte , Angel Izquierdo , Joan San , Sebastian Biton-Porsmoguer","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102972","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102972","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study, for the first time, examines the evolution of Omega-3 supply landed by local fisheries over time in the Mediterranean Sea, while considering trade-offs between species with varying temperature preferences. The province of Girona (northwestern Mediterranean, Spain) is used as our case study. Our results show that, between 2000 and 2023, there was a strong declining trend in the Omega-3 supplied by temperate and cold-water species (which have been negatively affected by overexploitation and climate change), and that this has not been compensated by the increase in the Omega-3 supplied by warm-water species (which have benefited from climate change). Considering the poor status of the Mediterranean stocks and the negative impacts of sea warming on Omega-3 production, our study provides empirical evidence that the self-sufficiency of Omega-3 supplied by seafood for future generations is far from assured.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102972"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102974
Jorge Fernandez-Vidal , Silverio Alarcon
{"title":"Corrigendum to “Financing agricultural innovation: challenges and alternatives to venture capital in the AgTech sector”. [Food Policy 136 (2025) 102967]","authors":"Jorge Fernandez-Vidal , Silverio Alarcon","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102974","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102974","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102974"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102978
Gashaw T. Abate , Fantu N. Bachewe , Mekdim D. Regassa , Nicholas Minot
{"title":"Rural income diversification in Ethiopia: Drivers and welfare impact","authors":"Gashaw T. Abate , Fantu N. Bachewe , Mekdim D. Regassa , Nicholas Minot","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102978","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102978","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Diversification of rural households into the nonfarm economy is a key driver of economic growth and structural transformation in countries where agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood. This study examines trends and patterns of income diversification, its determinants, and its association with household welfare in rural Ethiopia. Our analysis indicates that rural households in Ethiopia continued to rely primarily on farming, with only marginal diversification of income sources during 2012–2019, despite the broader context of rapid economic growth. Crop production remains the main source of income, followed by livestock, while nonfarm activities contribute 17–24% of total household income. Factor endowments and local conditions, including rainfall, play a crucial role in shaping diversification decisions. In particular, the 2015–16 drought appears to have pushed households to increase engagement in nonfarm income-generating activities. Importantly, income diversification is associated with higher household consumption, improved dietary diversity, and better housing quality, highlighting the potential of expanding the rural nonfarm economy to enhance household welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102978"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102946
Hannah Forde , Peter Scarborough , Lucy Yates , Jessica Renzella , Mark Sheehan , John Buckell , Alice O’Hagan , Sian Taylor , Jane Ward , Annie Connolly , Mike Rayner , Richard Smith , Asha Kaur
{"title":"Public support for food subsidy and tax scenarios to promote healthy and sustainable diets: Evidence from deliberative forums in two UK locations","authors":"Hannah Forde , Peter Scarborough , Lucy Yates , Jessica Renzella , Mark Sheehan , John Buckell , Alice O’Hagan , Sian Taylor , Jane Ward , Annie Connolly , Mike Rayner , Richard Smith , Asha Kaur","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102946","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102946","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Governments can utilise fiscal measures, through subsidies and taxes, to promote healthy and environmentally sustainable food choices. Despite their potential, implementing subsidies and taxes is often contested because of the cost, anticipated efficacy, ideological basis of these policies, and the wide range of ways they might be implemented. Deliberative methods are useful for converging debate to understand whether and how policy decisions on contentious issues are supported by the public. In October 2023, we held two deliberative forums with members of the public in UK locations experiencing high rates of deprivation: one in Govanhill, Glasgow (n = 13) and one in Bridlington (n = 11). We developed 16 food subsidy or tax scenarios from a systematic scoping review of the literature. We presented scientific evidence on related issues and facilitated deliberations, culminating in each forum ranking their preferred subsidy or tax scenarios. Though each forum’s preferences differed, overall participants favoured the implementation of a population-wide tax on high carbon foods, preferred more subsidy than tax scenarios, and preferred population-wide policies to policies that targeted people experiencing low income. Our findings demonstrate the public’s interest in government fiscal action to create a fairer, healthier, and more sustainable food system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102946"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102973
Sajad Fayezi , Maryam Zomorrodi
{"title":"Navigating the multiplicity of sustainability policies in agribusiness supply networks: The role of policy brokers and advocates","authors":"Sajad Fayezi , Maryam Zomorrodi","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102973","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102973","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As pressure for sustainability performance increases from corporate, state, and non-state stakeholders, so does the complexity of the regulatory environment and associated policy regimes. This complexity is well characterized by the multiplicity of sustainability policies, which poses significant challenges—including policy tensions—for firms and their supply network partners to navigate. Despite its importance, this phenomenon has received limited scholarly attention. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), we investigate how policy brokers and advocates influence firm and supply network responses to sustainability policy tensions. Drawing on rich qualitative data from the palm oil sector, our findings identify two categories of policy tensions—exclusionary dynamics and framing/narrative struggles—which emerge from sociopolitical contestations pertaining to multiple sustainability policies. We identify six influence mechanisms (standard-setting, assurance systems, mediation; campaigning, legitimacy, collaboration) used by policy brokers and advocates to support firms in navigating policy tensions. Our study advances the ACF by extending the concept of policy subsystems to transnational supply networks and by unpacking how intermediary actors mobilize belief-driven coalitions to navigate contested policy environments. For practitioners, the study provides guidance on developing supply network governance and adaptation strategies to navigate complex and contested sustainability regulatory environments and foster sustainable supply networks. For policymakers, the study underscores the importance of inclusive, coordinated governance—emphasizing the need for co-regulatory models, communication equity, and managed multiplicity over one-size-fits-all harmonization. These insights provide a diagnostic framework and actionable strategies for navigating sustainability policy multiplicity in agribusiness commodity sectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102973"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102979
Yehuda Slater , Israel Finkelshtain , Aron M Troen , Iddo Kan
{"title":"Economic analysis of food self-sufficiency: modeling and application to the case of Israel","authors":"Yehuda Slater , Israel Finkelshtain , Aron M Troen , Iddo Kan","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102979","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102979","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We develop a partial equilibrium model to assess the agro-economic implications of food self-sufficiency policies aimed at reducing a developed country’s exposure to shocks in the world food markets. We apply the model to Israel, a country with a high dependence on food imports, rapid population growth, and a vegetative agricultural sector specializing in fresh fruit and vegetable production subject to land, labor, and water constraints. We simulate different levels of self-sufficiency, measured in relation to the vegetative food products recommended for consumption by the EAT–Lancet Commission (<span><span>Willett et al. 2019</span></span>). We find that, under Israel’s population and agricultural production resources in 2019 (our baseline year), the country can self-supply the EAT–Lancet vegetative diet, although not all nutritional intakes (particularly fat, energy, and protein) recommended by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (<span><span>IMNA 2005</span></span>) will be met. Increasing self-sufficiency requires shifting agricultural resources from the production of fresh vegetative products to more storable—and therefore more importable—products such as cereals, oils, fats, legumes, seeds, and nuts. Because such crops consume less water and labor than fruits and vegetables, land remains the main resource constraining self-sufficiency. We show that self-supply of the vegetative dietary needs of Israel’s forecasted population over the coming decades will necessitate expanding the country’s agricultural land resources and/or maintaining large stocks of storable-food products. Achieving high levels of self-sufficiency would inflict pronounced welfare loss, particularly to the farming sector. Consequently, subsidies to incentivize self-sufficiency would entail significant governmental expenditures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102979"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145320912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"(Un)acceptable protein shift: Consumer attitudes toward retail-led interventions promoting sustainable diets","authors":"Noah Linder , Magnus Bergquist , Pär Bjälkebring , Malin Jonell","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102971","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102971","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transforming global and local food systems is essential for achieving current sustainability goals. A significant lever for the food sector is promoting a dietary shift away from animal-based proteins towards more plant-based options. Food retailers, positioned at the centre of the value chain, hold a uniquely influential role, as they have the capacity to shape the behaviours of both producers and consumers. However, consumer acceptability is a precondition for implementing behavioural change interventions, and there is a current knowledge gap regarding public acceptability of various retail-led interventions. In this study, we assess consumer acceptability of five categories of food retail-led interventions: <em>information-based</em>, <em>norms-based</em>, <em>choice architecture</em>, <em>price-based</em>, and <em>choice restriction</em>. In this mission we developed a survey and recruited a nationally representative sample (n = 424), we found price manipulations and choice restrictions to be less accepted than strategies building on information, norms, and choice architecture. Furthermore, a multi-level model showed that perceived effectiveness, fairness, and freedom of choice were significant predictors of acceptance for the interventions, with the exception that freedom of choice did not predict support for either the norm-based intervention or choice architecture. Lastly, we showcase how older age, positive meat attitudes, and strong meat-buying habits hindered acceptance, while biospheric values, environmental identity, and altruism facilitated it. Two potential courses of retailer action are identified: (1) immediately implement high-support interventions based on information, social norms, and choice architecture and (2) explore how to convey intervention effectiveness to increase consumer acceptability of price-based interventions and choice restrictions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102971"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food PolicyPub Date : 2025-09-27DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102968
Christina Zorbas , Danielle Resnick , Eleanor Jones , Shoba Suri , Elyse Iruhiriye , Derek Headey , Will Martin , Rob Vos , Purnima Menon
{"title":"From promises to action: Analyzing global commitments to tackle hunger and food insecurity","authors":"Christina Zorbas , Danielle Resnick , Eleanor Jones , Shoba Suri , Elyse Iruhiriye , Derek Headey , Will Martin , Rob Vos , Purnima Menon","doi":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102968","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102968","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-level declarations and commitment statements are a common output of global, intergovernmental meetings and critical to their continued public legitimacy. Yet, to what extent have such statements served as roadmaps for concrete action? To address this question, this paper focuses on commitments to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. Using a structured framework with seven domains, we analyzed 148 intergovernmental commitment documents emerging from 78 global meetings focused on SDG2 and organized by ten different global bodies between 2015 and 2023.</div><div>We find that stated visions to address SDG2 increasingly have been emphasized at global meetings over time but that specific actions to accelerate progress towards SDG2 were weaker. For instance, we find few examples of how needed actions will be scaled up over time, how financing might be mobilized, and how to strengthen horizontal (i.e. multi-sectoral) and vertical (i.e. multi-level) policy coherence. Progress reports are often identified as the main tool for providing public accountability, but there rarely are any consequences to governments for failure to uphold their commitments. We offer several policy recommendations emanating from the analysis, including the need to institutionalize monitoring of SDG2 commitments—not just targets—in the next five years, and a better understanding of political economy factors that may inhibit global decisions from translating into national policy decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":321,"journal":{"name":"Food Policy","volume":"136 ","pages":"Article 102968"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145154852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}