Insects are one step closer to being available as snacks or food ingredients in Europe. The European Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed has approved a draft legal act that, once adopted by the Commission, would permit dried yellow mealworm (the larvae of the beetle Tenebrio molitor) to be sold in the European Union for consumption by people. The yellow mealworm will be the first insect to be approved under the Novel Food Regulation. 11 further applications for edible insects are waiting to be evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority. 

This book offers a range of case studies to illustrate how food systems can be designed for sustainability, covering food supply chains, new food experiences such as food robots in restaurants, methods for food and sustainability education, and food community engagement.

This paper argues that the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is being used by large corporations, philanthropic organisations and export-oriented countries to take control of the narrative around food systems transformation and undermine more democratic forms of food systems governance. It analyses how the Summit was organised and how stakeholders were selected to take part.

This report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) explores what the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and government responses mean for the effort to transform food systems to be more healthy and sustainable. 

According to this story in the Guardian newspaper, hundreds of farming and human rights groups are planning to boycott the United Nations Food Systems Summit, which is due to take place in September 2021. The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism, which represents civil society organisations working on food security, has raised concerns that the Summit may be too strongly influenced by corporate interests, lacks sufficient emphasis on human rights, and underestimates the extent to which food systems must be transformed. The Mechanism intends to set up alternative talks to run in parallel with the Summit.

This report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) examines three questions: how have food systems performed to date and what role did policies play? How can policy makers design coherent policies across the triple challenge of providing food security, livelihoods and environmental protection? How should policymakers treat the facts, interests, and values that often complicate the task of achieving better policies? It also presents case studies on the seed sector, ruminant livestock and processed foods.

The Global Nutrition Report has an interactive “Nutrition for Growth Commitment Tracker” where you can track progress made by a variety of stakeholders on their commitments towards ending malnutrition, made as part of the Nutrition for Growth summit. Stakeholders include national governments, donors, businesses, civil society organisations and the United Nations.