Agri Food Industry Strategies For Healthy Diets And Sustainability

Divided into five sections, Agri-Food Industry Strategies for Healthy Diets and Sustainability: New Challenges in Nutrition and Public Health provides an overview of the challenges and future perspectives related to nutrition, public health, and sustainability. The book addresses strategies to reduce fat, trans fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt consumption, while also exploring the manufacturing, safety, and toxicology of new food manufacturing. This book examines commercial labeling and nutritional education, nutrigenomics and public health, and provides coverage of the valorization of waste and by-products from the food industry. Nutrition researchers and practitioners, food scientists, technologists, engineers, agronomists, food product developers, medical and public health professionals, and postgraduate students focused in food science and nutrition are sure to find this reference work a welcomed addition to their libraries. Contains innovative strategies to achieve a healthy diet through the design of new food products Provides comprehensive information related to agriculture, nutrition, food industry, government, and sustainable waste management and details their roles in addressing food waste Explores the ways in which innovative approaches, used to valorize and give an added value to agri-food waste and by-products, ensure the sustainability of the production process Presents nutritive education about reducing empty calories by lowering consumption of fats, sugars, and other high-calorie nutrients Delineates the roles of food industry and government in shaping the best policies for the general public and the design of new products

This comprehensive text provides the latest research on key concepts, principles and practices for promoting healthy and sustainable food systems. There are increasing concerns about the impact of food systems on environmental sustainability and, in turn, the impact of environmental sustainability on the capacity of food systems to protect food and nutrition security into the future. The contributors to this book are leading researchers in the causes of and solutions to these challenges. As international experts in their fields, they provide in-depth analyses of the issues and evidence-informed recommendations for future policies and practices. Starting with an overview of ideas about health, sustainability and equity in relation to food systems, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems examines what constitutes a food system, with chapters on production, manufacturing, distribution and retail, among others. The text explores health and sustainable diets, looking at issues such as overconsumption and waste. The book ends with discussions about the politics, policy, personal behaviours and advocacy behind creating healthy and sustainable food systems. With a food systems approach to health and sustainability identified as a priority area for public health, this text introduces core knowledge for students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines including food and nutrition sciences, dietetics, public health, public policy, medicine, health science and environmental science.

This book examines the challenges and impacts of poor diets and nutrition from current food systems and the potential contribution of biodiversity and ecosystem services in addressing these problems. There is a strong need for a multi-level, cross-sectoral approach that connects food biodiversity conservation and sustainable use to address critical problems in our current food systems, including malnutrition. Building on research from the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project (BFN), which aims to better link biodiversity, diets and nutrition, the book presents a multi-country, cross-sectoral analysis of initiatives that have promoted local food biodiversity in four countries: Brazil, Kenya, Turkey and Sri Lanka. This book offers a comprehensive summary of the BFN Project results in each of the four countries along with lessons learned and how this work could be upscaled or applied in other regions. It argues that the strategic promotion and use of food biodiversity is critical in uniting attempts to address conservation, nutrition and livelihood concerns. The book is structured around chapters and case studies encompassing the BFN Project with specific experiences related by partners who played key roles in the work being done in each country. By offering a comparative view capable of furthering dialogue between the respective countries, it is also meant to connect the individual cases for a “greater than the sum of its parts” effect. This means consideration of how localized activities can be adapted to more countries and regions. Therefore, the book addresses global issues with a foot planted firmly in the grounded case study locations. This book will be of great interest to policymakers, practitioners and NGOs working on food and nutrition, as well as students and scholars of agriculture, food systems and sustainable development.

This book offers critical insights by international scholars, with chapters on global food security, supermarket power, new technologies, and sustainability. The book also assesses the contributions of diet and nutrition research in building socially just and environmentally sustainable food systems and provides policy recommendations to improve the health and environmental status of contemporary agri-food systems.

This book will review the current status of the agriculture and agri-food sector in regard to green processing and provide strategies that can be used by the sector to enhance the use of environmentally-friendly technologies for production, processing. The book will look at the full spectrum from farm to fork beginning with chapters on life cycle analysis and environmental impact assessment of different agri-food sectors. This will be followed by reviews of current and novel on-farm practices that are more environmentally-friendly, technologies for food processing that reduce chemical and energy use and emissions as well as novel analytical techniques for R&D and QA which reduce solvent, chemical and energy consumption. Technologies for waste treatment, "reducing, reusing, recycling", and better water and energy stewardship will be reviewed. In addition, the last section of the book will attempt to look at technologies and processes that reduce the generation of process-induced toxins (e.g., trans fats, acrylamide, D-amino acids) and will address consumer perceptions about current and emerging technologies available to tackle these processing and environmental issues.

This book presents a practical guide to help businesses navigate the complex topics of sustainability in the food industry. The book takes you on a journey along the food value chain, from farm to fork, exploring key opportunities to increase positive impacts and circularity at each step of the journey. Written by a team of authors with decades of experience in the food industry and academia, it provides guidance on how to analyse sustainability across the value chain and life cycle of a food product and how to design, implement and communicate strategies to customers. Furthermore, the book shows that there are not always straightforward solutions, but rather choices and trade-offs that require an understanding of what is best suited to the product, customers and business in question. It demystifies a variety of topics, such as local sourcing, regenerative agriculture, plant-based protein and the environmental impact of meat production, and draws on a wide range of case studies from across the globe, to provide concrete, real-world examples. While a perfect food system may not exist, informed decisions can go a long way to reshape and transform the food industry as we know it. This book will be of great interest to professionals working in the food and agriculture industries, as well as students and scholars of sustainable food systems and sustainable business.

Considering the detrimental environmental impact of current food systems, and the concerns raised about their sustainability, there is an urgent need to promote diets that are healthy and have low environmental impacts. These diets also need to be socio-culturally acceptable and economically accessible for all. Acknowledging the existence of diverging views on the concepts of sustainable diets and healthy diets, countries have requested guidance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on what constitutes sustainable healthy diets. These guiding principles take a holistic approach to diets; they consider international nutrition recommendations; the environmental cost of food production and consumption; and the adaptability to local social, cultural and economic contexts. This publication aims to support the efforts of countries as they work to transform food systems to deliver on sustainable healthy diets, contributing to the achievement of the SDGs at country level, especially Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action).

Currently 868 million people are undernourished and 195 million children under five years of age are stunted. At the same time, over 1 billion people are overweight and obese in both the developed and developing world. Diseases previously associated with affluence, such as cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, are on the rise. Food system-based approaches to addressing these problems that could enhance food availability and diet quality through local production and agricultural biodiversity often fall outside the traditional scope of nutrition, and have been under-researched. As a consequence, there remains insufficient evidence to support well-defined, scalable agricultural biodiversity interventions that can be linked to improvements in nutrition outcomes. Agricultural biodiversity is important for food and nutritional security, as a safeguard against hunger, a source of nutrients for improved dietary diversity and quality, and strengthening local food systems and environmental sustainability. This book explores the current state of knowledge on the role of agricultural biodiversity in improving diets, nutrition and food security. Using examples and case studies from around the globe, the book explores current strategies for improving nutrition and diets and identifies key research and implementation gaps that need to be addressed to successfully promote the better use of agricultural biodiversity for rural and urban populations and societies in transition.