Nature foodPub Date : 2024-08-30DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01042-6
Brent Loken, Murli Dhar, Nancy Phoebe Rapando
{"title":"Healthy and sustainable diets must be culturally acceptable too","authors":"Brent Loken, Murli Dhar, Nancy Phoebe Rapando","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01042-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01042-6","url":null,"abstract":"Dietary shifts are among the most important actions we can take to reduce the environmental impact of our food system and improve human health. However, implementing such changes requires that dietary recommendations be tailored to the cultural heritage, values and preferences of populations.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 9","pages":"723-724"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142101512","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 : 2024-08-30DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01036-4
Océane Duluins, Philippe V. Baret
{"title":"The paradoxes of the protein transition maintain existing animal production and consumption systems","authors":"Océane Duluins, Philippe V. Baret","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01036-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01036-4","url":null,"abstract":"The shift towards reduced consumption of animal-based products, referred to as the protein transition, is increasingly viewed as an opportunity to drive sustainable food systems transformations. Here we explore three central paradoxes of the protein transition. The first underscores the focus on substituting animal proteins with alternative sources, rather than reducing overall protein consumption. The second focuses on the search for new protein sources, rather than tackling overconsumption and overproduction. The third involves the continued export of animal proteins from Europe, a practice defended under the guise of food security, efficiency and comparative advantage. These narratives dominate public discourse, justifying existing production and consumption patterns, shaping perceptions and influencing decisions and policies that impact the future direction of our food systems. Given the influence of stakeholders’ narratives in the transition, we advocate for a holistic and systemic perspective that transcends isolated and quick-fix solutions to foster coherent strategies to advance the protein transition. Moving away from animal-based protein consumption requires major changes in how food systems operate. This Perspective explores three paradoxes driving the transition and alternative, interconnected approaches to support protein system sustainability.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 9","pages":"725-730"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142101514","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 : 2024-08-30DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01038-2
Bingqi Ye, Qianling Xiong, Jialu Yang, Zhihao Huang, Jingyi Huang, Jialin He, Ludi Liu, Min Xia, Yan Liu
{"title":"Adoption of region-specific diets in China can help achieve gains in health and environmental sustainability","authors":"Bingqi Ye, Qianling Xiong, Jialu Yang, Zhihao Huang, Jingyi Huang, Jialin He, Ludi Liu, Min Xia, Yan Liu","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01038-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01038-2","url":null,"abstract":"The vast heterogeneity in dietary practices across China has led to profound regional disparities in health and environment. To address this issue, we developed a region-specific reference diet (RRD) that is better aligned with Chinese culinary traditions, affordable, sparing of natural and environmental resources, and contributes to health. The adoption of the RRD has proven to be a viable solution to facilitate a rapid transition towards a healthy and environmentally sustainable diet across the country when compared to dietary guidelines from the World Health Organization, the EAT-Lancet Commission and the Chinese Nutrition Society. The RRD improved health in all regions and resulted in reductions of all five environmental impacts measured. Given China’s huge population and its major impact on global sustainability, the widespread adoption of the RRD would not only yield substantial health benefits domestically, but also contribute significantly to global food security and sustainability efforts. Healthy and sustainable diets that better match the dietary preferences and economic affordability of specific groups are needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. To address this gap, this study proposes a region-specific reference diet for China and compares it to global dietary guidelines.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 9","pages":"764-774"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142101515","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 : 2024-08-30DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01031-9
Rylie E. O. Pelton, Clare E. Kazanski, Shamitha Keerthi, Kelly A. Racette, Sasha Gennet, Nathaniel Springer, Eugene Yacobson, Michael Wironen, Deepak Ray, Kris Johnson, Jennifer Schmitt
{"title":"Greenhouse gas emissions in US beef production can be reduced by up to 30% with the adoption of selected mitigation measures","authors":"Rylie E. O. Pelton, Clare E. Kazanski, Shamitha Keerthi, Kelly A. Racette, Sasha Gennet, Nathaniel Springer, Eugene Yacobson, Michael Wironen, Deepak Ray, Kris Johnson, Jennifer Schmitt","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01031-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01031-9","url":null,"abstract":"Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef production in the United States are unevenly distributed across the supply chain and production regions, complicating where and how to reduce emissions most effectively. Using spatially explicit life cycle assessment methods, we quantify the baseline GHG emissions and mitigation opportunities of 42 practices spanning the supply chain from crop and livestock production to processing. We find that the potential to reduce GHGs across the beef sector ranges up to 30% (20 million tonnes CO2e reduced and 58 million tonnes CO2 sequestered each year relative to the baseline) under ubiquitous adoption assumptions, largely driven by opportunities in the grazing stage. Opportunities to reduce GHGs in the feed, grazing and feedlot stages vary across regions, yet large-scale adoption across the entire beef supply chain is important. These findings reveal promising locations and practices to invest in to advance mitigation goals and an upper-end theoretical potential for mitigation in the beef industry. The United States is the world’s largest beef producer. Identifying strategies to mitigate its GHG emissions remains a challenge due to sector complexity and heterogeneity. This study takes an LCA approach to quantify potential mitigation opportunities available or soon to be available for the beef sector.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 9","pages":"787-797"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01031-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142101545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2024-08-27DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01034-6
Nitya Rao, Lee Hooper, Heather Gray, Natasha Grist, Johanna Forster, Julie Bremner, Ghezal Sabir, Matthew Heaton, Nisha Marwaha, Sudarshan Thakur, Abraham Wanyama, Liangzi Zhang
{"title":"A systematic review of the impact of post-harvest aquatic food processing technology on gender equality and social justice","authors":"Nitya Rao, Lee Hooper, Heather Gray, Natasha Grist, Johanna Forster, Julie Bremner, Ghezal Sabir, Matthew Heaton, Nisha Marwaha, Sudarshan Thakur, Abraham Wanyama, Liangzi Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01034-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01034-6","url":null,"abstract":"Post-harvest practices and technologies are key to reducing global aquatic harvest loss. The lives of post-harvest fisheries workers, over half of them women, are deeply affected by these technologies, but their equity and equality outcomes are poorly understood. This systematic review synthesizes evidence of post-harvest aquatic food processing technology outcomes, showing that persistent inequalities in social structure and norms disadvantage women across a range of technologies, both traditional and improved, especially regarding control over resources. We found that improved technologies bring enhanced productivity and possibly income for workers, yet contracts are often precarious due to pre-existing social inequities. While power and control of resources is more unequal in factory settings, it is not necessarily equal in traditional contexts either, despite offering greater flexibility. More rigorous comparative research, including voices of diverse actors, is key to understanding the impacts of different technologies on gender equality and social justice and inform policymaking. Fisheries and aquaculture production are key to livelihoods, food and nutrition, yet over one-third of global aquatic harvest is lost or wasted. The post-harvest sector, key to reducing these losses, and dominated by women workers, is not well understood. This systematic review synthesizes evidence on equity and equality outcomes of post-harvest practices and technologies that aim to reduce loss and waste in the fisheries sector.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 9","pages":"731-741"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142083016","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 : 2024-08-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01041-7
{"title":"Food loss and waste","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01041-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01041-7","url":null,"abstract":"Not only does the problem persist, but it is also getting worse. Nature Food’s Collection ‘Loss and waste in food systems’ is a contribution to the debate on drivers, impacts and solutions.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 8","pages":"639-639"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01041-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142045343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2024-08-21DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01022-w
Laura Pasitka, Guy Wissotsky, Muneef Ayyash, Nir Yarza, Gal Rosoff, Revital Kaminker, Yaakov Nahmias
{"title":"Empirical economic analysis shows cost-effective continuous manufacturing of cultivated chicken using animal-free medium","authors":"Laura Pasitka, Guy Wissotsky, Muneef Ayyash, Nir Yarza, Gal Rosoff, Revital Kaminker, Yaakov Nahmias","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01022-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01022-w","url":null,"abstract":"Cellular agriculture aims to meet the growing demand for animal products. However, current production technologies result in low yields, leading to economic projections that prohibit cultivated meat scalability. Here we use tangential flow filtration for continuous manufacturing of cultivated meat to produce biomass of up to 130 × 106 cells per ml, corresponding to yields of 43% w/v and multiple harvests for over 20 days. Continuous manufacturing was carried out in an animal-component-free culture medium for US$0.63 l−1 that supports the long-term, high density culture of chicken cells. Using this empirical data, we conducted a techno-economic analysis for a theoretical production facility of 50,000 l, showing that the cost of cultivated chicken can drop to within the range of organic chicken at US$6.2 lb−1 by using perfusion technology. Whereas other variables would also affect actual market prices, continuous manufacturing can offer cost reductions for scaling up cultivated meat production. Data from tangential flow filtration experiments using cell culture medium without animal products are used to estimate the costs of scaled-up, continuous cultivated chicken manufacturing.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 8","pages":"693-702"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142013810","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 : 2024-08-21DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01033-7
Dimitrios I. Gerogiorgis
{"title":"Towards a competitive cost for industrial-scale cultivated chicken production","authors":"Dimitrios I. Gerogiorgis","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01033-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01033-7","url":null,"abstract":"A techno-economic analysis demonstrates that cultivated chicken can be produced for under US$7 per pound when bioprocesses are scaled to reach the required throughput. By using lab-scale experimental data and empirical correlations, this study unveils important factors that can render industrial-scale cultivated chicken production commercially viable.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 8","pages":"650-651"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142013809","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 : 2024-08-16DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01030-w
Irina Herzon, Rachel Mazac, Maijaliisa Erkkola, Tara Garnett, Helena Hansson, Malin Jonell, Minna Kaljonen, Teea Kortetmäki, Marjukka Lamminen, Annika Lonkila, Mari Niva, Anne-Maria Pajari, Theresa Tribaldos, Marjaana Toivonen, Hanna L. Tuomisto, Kari Koppelmäki, Elin Röös
{"title":"Both downsizing and improvements to livestock systems are needed to stay within planetary boundaries","authors":"Irina Herzon, Rachel Mazac, Maijaliisa Erkkola, Tara Garnett, Helena Hansson, Malin Jonell, Minna Kaljonen, Teea Kortetmäki, Marjukka Lamminen, Annika Lonkila, Mari Niva, Anne-Maria Pajari, Theresa Tribaldos, Marjaana Toivonen, Hanna L. Tuomisto, Kari Koppelmäki, Elin Röös","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01030-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01030-w","url":null,"abstract":"A focus on improvements to livestock production limits the scope for food systems transformation. Research, policy and industry must adopt measures to downsize livestock production and consumption to meet sustainability targets and facilitate a just transition.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 8","pages":"642-645"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141991823","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 : 2024-08-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01018-6
Eva-Marie Meemken, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Laurens Klerkx, Sanneke Kloppenburg, Jan Dirk Wegner, Robert Finger
{"title":"Digital innovations for monitoring sustainability in food systems","authors":"Eva-Marie Meemken, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Laurens Klerkx, Sanneke Kloppenburg, Jan Dirk Wegner, Robert Finger","doi":"10.1038/s43016-024-01018-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-024-01018-6","url":null,"abstract":"Monitoring systems that incentivize, track and verify compliance with social and environmental standards are widespread in food systems. In particular, digital monitoring approaches using remote sensing, machine learning, big data, smartphones, platforms and blockchain are proliferating. The increasing use and availability of these technologies put us at a critical juncture to leverage these innovations for enhanced transparency, fairness and open access, rather than descending into a dystopian landscape of digital surveillance and division perpetuated by a powerful few. Here we discuss opportunities and risks, and highlight research gaps linked to the ongoing digitalization of monitoring approaches. The increasing availability of digital technologies for monitoring food systems creates an opportunity for enhanced transparency, fairness and open access. This Perspective discusses these issues, as well as eventual risks and research gaps associated with them.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"5 8","pages":"656-660"},"PeriodicalIF":23.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141986544","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}