The increasing consumption of industrially processed convenience foods, soft drinks, and fast foods has been associated with a rise in non-communicable diseases, overweight and obesity. This building block explores the concept of ultra-processed food: how it has been defined, and differing views as to whether it is a useful way of thinking about food and its relation to health and wider sustainability concerns. Last update: 2 July, 2019 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/ca3e86f2

Human use and alteration of land has profound effects on the environment, both locally where it takes place, and at the planetary scale via climate change and other mechanisms.  This building block explains what is meant by land use and land use change, both direct and indirect. Last update: 06 February, 2018 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/4af265b4

The role of animals in food systems, and the degree to which their needs should be accounted for as compared to humans, are ethical issues about which there is both concern and disagreement.  This building block explains what is meant by the concept of animal welfare. Last update: 15 Dec, 2017 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/ad46e825

Being able to reliably obtain, consume and metabolise sufficient quantities of safe and nutritious and foods, is essential to human well-being. This building block explains the meaning of the food security concept.    Last update: 12 March, 2018 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/e49a6c96

People need to be able to obtain and utilise a healthy amount and balance of nutrients. Without this, they can suffer severe impacts to their health and well-being. This building block explains malnutrition and its causes, prevalence and consequences. Last update: 18 June, 2018 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/6a0223ed

New approaches to agriculture are required if we are to reduce the environmental impacts of farming while also feeding more people with a sufficient quantity and diversity of nutritious and safe foods. This building block explains the concept of sustainable intensification. Last update: 18 June, 2018 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/075f639f

Agricultural production is responsible for the majority of global land use. The use of land to produce food almost always comes into conflict with goals for the conservation of nature and wildlife. This building block explains the land sparing-sharing continuum, which encompasses two fundamentally different approaches to balancing goals for food production and biodiversity conservation. Last update: 14 August, 2018 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/4d83249a A shorter written version of this summary is available here.

Changes in diet and lifestyle can be caused by many factors and can, in turn, cause changes in health. This building block explains what the nutrition transition is and its implications for health and environmental sustainability. Last update: 12 October, 2018 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/39a7336f

The concept of efficiency and its relation to food sustainability is defined and valued in different ways. Among those who argue that improved efficiency will lead to greater sustainability, there are different interpretations of what improved efficiency actually means. Others still, view the quest for efficiency itself to be problematic and its relationship with sustainability potentially oxymoronic. This building block is based on the FCRN report Lean, green, mean, obscene…? What is efficiency? And is it sustainable? It introduces the concept of efficiency and explores its relation to food system sustainability. Last update: 31 May, 2019 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/013a7886