This short guide by the UK food and farming alliance Sustain offers advice on drafting and delivering local food poverty action plans. The guide discusses several case studies from around the UK.

In this blog post for the UK Food Research Collaboration, researchers Tony Lewis and Erik Millstone note that the UK’s draft replacement regulations for governing food after the UK leaves the European Union (EU) allow the government to relax requirements on food traceability. The authors argue that the government may be preparing to accept lower food standards to minimise supply disruptions in the event of leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

This report by US non-profit Centre for International Environmental Law reviews research on the human health impacts of plastics throughout their lifecycle, including extraction of fossil fuels, refining and production, consumer use, waste management, fragmenting and microplastics and accumulation of plastics in food chains.

This report, the latest in the Food Research Collaboration’s Food Brexit Briefing series, explores the policy options for governing sugar supply as the UK prepares to leave the European Union. The current supply of cheaper sugar has undermined public health, the report argues.

Research literature, policy indicators, and assessment tools use many different variables to assess sustainable agricultural land systems in Europe (for example soil loss, landscape diversity and food quality). Out of 239 of these variables identified in this paper, 32 have been covered by all three perspectives (i.e. research, policy and practice) while the remainder have only been considered by one or two perspectives.

This report from IPES Food argues for a new approach to governing food systems in Europe, where sustainability goals are integrated across policies for different sectors, including agriculture, trade, food safety, environment and research.

Canada’s new dietary guidelines include environmental considerations as well as health, suggesting that diets higher in plant-based foods generally help to conserve “soil, water and air”.

This paper explores the influence that the Coca-Cola Company has had on obesity science and policy in China, in part through Coca-Cola’s influence on the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). The author notes that China’s health recommendations usually focus on physical activity instead of the dietary policies recommended by the World Health Organisation - in line with Coca-Cola’s message that all food and drinks can be part of a healthy diet, as long as there is enough exercise.

In this report, the Barilla Centre for Food & Nutrition uses findings from the Food Sustainability Index to investigate best practices in food sustainability, focusing on sustainable agriculture, nutritional challenges, and food loss and waste.