The Guardian newspaper has analysed 44 studies on the mislabelling of seafood. 36% of thousands of samples across more than 30 countries were found to be mislabelled. Although some errors may be accidental, the writers suggest that since most of the substitutions were cheaper fish labelled as more expensive fish, fraud is likely to blame in many cases. 

This report from the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change makes recommendations for reducing the UK’s food-related greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the negative health impacts of climate change. The suggestions include: provide clear, accessible advice on transitioning to climate-friendly diets; research the most effective forms of food labelling; require publicly procured food to meet minimum environmental standards; and require post-Brexit food imports to meet UK environmental standards.

NGO Greenpeace Brazil reports that some meat companies that have exported beef from Brazil to the UK, among other countries, have received cattle that have, for part of their life, been grazed on illegally deforested areas within the protected Ricardo Franco State Park. Greenpeace describes the process as “cattle laundering” because the cattle are sent to other farms (not linked to illegal deforestation) later in their life, to hide the links to deforestation.

This book explores how proteomics - the study of the set of proteins produced by an organism or system - can be used to verify claims about the origin of foods such as milk, meat, fish, wine and honey.

This commentary piece draws on the experience of nutrition labelling to explore whether environmental sustainability labelling on food products can encourage more sustainable food choices and contribute towards building a healthy, sustainable food system.

In this podcast from the World Resources Institute, Andika Putraditama (sustainable commodities and business manager at WRI Indonesia) discusses how buyers have responded to certified sustainable palm oil. Some prefer to avoid palm oil altogether. Putraditama argues that encouraging certified palm oil would incentivise the palm oil industry to change its practices.

This report from the UK’s Internet of Food Things Network Plus discusses how digital technologies can help food system actors to collaborate on addressing food system challenges such as traceability, food safety, efficiency, sustainability, health and waste.

According to this article by the New Food Economy, the United States has experienced five E. coli outbreaks in the leafy green supply chain in two years. The latest outbreak, affecting romaine lettuce, originated in Salinas, California. A task force found that a 2018 outbreak was possibly linked to the presence of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) near lettuce farms.

This brief from Trase (a partnership between the Stockholm Environment Institute and Global Canopy) examines soy grown on unregistered farms in Brazil. Legally, farms in Brazil should be registered with the Rural Environmental Registry as the first step of complying with the Forest Code, which stipulates how much native vegetation should be left intact on private properties.