Certain cereal grains and other crop plants have been shown to have lower iron concentrations when grown under elevated CO2. This study by researchers from Massachusetts, USA, examined diets from 152 countries to investigate which groups of people might be most at risk of iron deficiency as a result of increasing CO2 emissions, on the basis of current dietary composition, the current global prevalence of iron deficiency, and projected CO2 emissions up to the year 2050.

This new paper by FCRN member Elin Röös , the FCRN’s Tara Garnett and colleagues explores the following questions: What would be the implications, for land use and greenhouse gas emissions, if our global population moved away from eating beef and other ruminant meats and switched mostly to chicken? What if we all went vegan? What if all our meat demand were met by artificial meat? Or what  if, in an attempt to avoid ‘feed-food’ competition, we limited our consumption of animal products to what we could obtain by rearing animals on grasslands and feeding them byproducts and food waste?

Kwantlen’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems has created a food policy database for British Columbia, Canada with over 2000 entries, incorporating 40% of the municipalities in the province.

IntoFood is a Norwegian-based organisation which helps food companies to report on sustainability and create greener menu offerings, led by FCRN member Will Nicholson. They have completed a project with ISS, a large catering company, in which they generated new menu information including carbon footprint data for all of the 2000+ recipes in ISS’ menu management system.

This book aimed at an academic audience is edited by A. Bryce Hoflund, John C. Jones and Michelle C. Pautz. It has sections on topics such as the regulation of food, food insecurity and the role of local food system in public health.

This book, edited by Annette Aurelie Desmarais, Priscilla Claeys and Amy Trauger, examines various social movements around food.

The United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) has produced a discussion paper on sustainable healthy diets. It begins by outlining the relevant global policy framework and existing commitments on nutrition and climate change. It then goes on to examine the interdependence of climate change, food systems, diets, nutrition and health, before setting out which policy steps need to be taken to further research and action in this area.

UK-based organisation Global Food Security has published a short report on ‘Paris-compliant healthy food systems’.

This Guardian article introduces UK startups which aim to improve quality and reduce the environmental impact of food, using new technologies to facilitate their business. The article notes that the number of startups have begun growing in recent years, as the issue of sustainability become more important to consumers. These companies normally sell produce that would go unsold in other circumstances.