The book “Farm to Fingers: The culture and politics of food in contemporary India”, edited by Kiranmayi Bhushi, explores diverse viewpoints on current food issues in India, including food security, global policies, and the impact of food bloggers.

Losses of wheat, rice and maize to insects could increase by 10 to 25% per degree Celsius of climate warming, according to this paper. This is due to two main factors: insects have faster metabolisms at higher temperatures and therefore need to eat more; and insect population growth rates will also change with temperature.

The book “Food and sustainability”, edited by Paul Behrens, Thijs Bosker and David Ehrhardt, is a textbook that addresses food sustainability from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The report “Transformation is feasible - How to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals within Planetary Boundaries”, produced by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, identifies five measures to reach the most Sustainable Development Goals within the planetary boundaries.

The UK government has announced £15 million of funding for a pilot project to subsidise the redistribution of surplus food from retailers and manufacturers. The project will focus on fresh food. The decision follows a campaign led by The Grocer magazine.

The Food Ethics Council has produced a report of its business forum “Brexit breakfast <200 days to go… How can we get the best post-Brexit outcomes for UK food and farming systems?”, which was held on 11 September 2018. Forum participants discussed the Irish border, future trade deals, organic certification, promoting public health after Brexit, farm labour, and future food standards.

FCRN member Ken Giller has co-authored a paper that reviews the targets and indicators used to measure the second sustainable development goal (SDG-2), i.e. the pursuit of global food security and agricultural sustainability. The paper concludes that the UN’s current set of targets and indicators for SDG-2 are not universally applicable, and proposes a revised set of indicators.

This book, by Simon R. Bush and Peter Oosterveer, examines the sustainability, governance and future of seafood.

A paper argues that current definitions of ultra-processed foods are inconsistently applied. Furthermore, while higher consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with higher sugar intake and lower fibre intake, the paper claims that intakes of fat, saturated fat and salt are not associated with ultra-processed food consumption. The paper questions the policy recommendation that ultra-processed foods should be avoided.