This collection of papers in the journal Global Food Security assesses the situation of food security and the implications of food security governance on people’s lives in several Latin American countries, using experience-based food security scales questionnaires (EBFSSs). Ultimately these papers seek to address deficiencies in food security governance and put forward the case for more empirical research into the subject. The authors argue that improving food security governance in the region is complex but of the utmost importance. This would require improved cross-sector coordination and household (in)security monitoring through empirical measures such as EBFSSs.

This paper describes an online choice experiment to understand consumer preferences around best-before dates, appearance, and packaging of food products; the paper specifically studies the demand for discounted ‘suboptimal’ products in the supermarket, and consumers’ willingness to use them in the home. 

In this opinion piece, Edward Parson of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, UCLA, argues that Climate Engineering (CE) must urgently be given greater and more serious consideration within climate change research and policy, and calls upon the IPCC to take responsibility for this.

A small amount of single-cell protein has been produced using electricity and carbon dioxide alone. The researchers working on this believe the protein produced in this way could be further developed for use as food and animal feed. The protein can be produced anywhere that renewable energy, such as solar energy, is available.

The journal Agriculture for Development invited the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) to produce a special issue which provides a broad-ranging selection of articles, news from the field, and book reviews in the area of climate smart agriculture. 

Birmingham researchers propose that the UK food labelling which currently is used on individual products should be expanded to the level of an entire supermarket receipt. The ‘traffic light system’ shows the total data for calories, sugar, fat and salt in a person’s shop and highlights the total in a green, amber or red colour.  

The world’s largest agricultural commodities supplier,  Cargill, obtained its highest profit in six years based on an increasing demand for meat. Animal nutrition and protein were the largest contributor to quarterly earnings for the company.

The research papers presented in this issue on urban food policies provide a selection of the articles that were presented at the 7th Aesop Sustainable Food Planning Conference in 2015.

Ceres, a sustainability nonprofit organization working with influential investors and companies, has released a new website to help investors when they make decisions to invest in food or agriculture companies. They argue that agricultural commodity trade is highly affected by issues such as climate change, deforestation, water use and pollution, and that companies need to take these into account in order to improve supply chain security and ensure consumer acceptability.