This report from WWF argues that imports of commodities (including soy, beef, shrimp, rubber, palm oil and wheat) to the European Union are driving the destruction of many types of ecosystems. It stresses the importance of considering not just deforestation, but also the conversion of grasslands, savannahs, peatlands, shrublands and wetlands, and sets out policy recommendations.

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has released the results of its “Food and You 2”, a biannual survey of consumer knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The survey was conducted between April and June 2021, and hence records food behaviours linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report, prepared for the European Public Health Alliance by Cóilín Nunan of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, argues that changing animal husbandry practices to improve animal welfare is essential for reducing the routine use of antibiotics on farms.

This paper attempts to quantify for the first time the planetary boundary for “novel entities” (NE-PB), including chemicals, new types of materials and modified forms of life. It focuses on chemical pollution, in particular plastics, and concludes that we fall outside a “safe operating space” for this planetary boundary.

This paper quantifies the climate impacts of phasing out livestock production globally. It finds that ceasing animal agriculture could provide half of the net emissions reductions required to limit climate warming to 2°C, and argues that large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from food production are likely to be necessary alongside emissions reductions in the transport and energy sectors. Both authors are shareholders of Impossible Foods, which is developing alternatives to livestock.

This paper reviews studies on the interactions between weight loss and food environments in several high-income countries. It finds that unsupportive food environments can undermine people’s efforts to lose weight or maintain weight loss in many ways, especially for people on a low income.

This post from Our World in Data sets out the environmental impacts (land use, greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use and eutrophication) of dairy milk and several alternatives (oat, soy, almond and rice milk). It concludes that dairy milk has higher environmental impacts than all of the alternatives across all categories considered, and that there is no clear winner between the dairy alternatives.

The UK-based Food Research Collaboration has put together a map of food research institutes in the UK that study food systems and food policy. It is aimed at academics seeking fellow subject specialists and at civil society and journalists seeking experts on food systems topics. 

This book sets out industrial opportunities and circular economy concepts that could help resolve sustainability challenges throughout the global food supply chain.