Food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture

Food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture constitute fundamental elements that contribute significantly to the attainment of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals are a globally shared blueprint that calls for peace and prosperity for all people and the planet. Focusing on food security and nutrition is directly linked to SDG 2 which seeks to "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture." Beyond SDG 2, these themes also relate to other SDGs such as Goal 3 - Good Health and Well-being, Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, and Goal 13 - Climate Action. The relationship between sustainable agriculture and these goals is profound; by promoting eco-friendly farming methods, we reduce the environmental footprint, mitigate climate change, and ensure the long-term sustainability of food production systems.

Moreover, sustainable agriculture is vital in fostering biodiversity, improving soil health, and enhancing water use efficiency, which are critical aspects related to Goals 14 and 15 - Life below Water and Life on Land respectively. By safeguarding our ecosystems, we not only ensure food security but also the preservation of the natural environment for future generations. In turn, better nutrition is a conduit to improved health (SDG 3), and it can also influence educational outcomes (SDG 4), given the known links between nutrition and cognitive development.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that the interconnections go beyond these goals. There's an important nexus between sustainable agriculture, food security and issues of poverty (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG 5), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), and economic growth (SDG 8), among others. Sustainable agriculture creates job opportunities, thus reducing poverty levels. By empowering women in agriculture, we can help achieve gender equality. Proper water and sanitation practices in agriculture can prevent contamination, ensuring clean water and sanitation for all. Therefore, the triad of food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture, while being a significant goal in itself, is also a vehicle that drives the achievement of the wider Sustainable Development Goals.

Elsevier, Current Opinion in Food Science, Volume 40, August 2021
The interest in eating insects as food is increasing, not least for sustainability reasons. However, the acceptance among consumers remains low. The aim of this review was to identify the key factors influencing consumer perception and acceptability of insect-based foods described in recent literature. Even though sustainability factors are important, they are seldom the main reasons influencing insect consumption. Instead, a complexity of emotional factors, such as disgust and neophobia, as well as familiar tastes, textures and contexts, were found to have a major influence.
The energy, exergy and economic analysis of indirect type solar dryer (ITSD) was performed while drying green chilli under forced and natural convection. Fans powered by PV panels were used for forced convection setup. The collector and drying efficiencies of the forced convection dryer were found to be 63.3% and 10.4% and the same was 53.84% and 8.90% in natural convection ITSD, respectively. The specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) of green chilli in ITSD was found to be 0.6526 and 0.5603 kg/kW-h under forced and natural convection, respectively.
Elsevier,

The Lancet Public Health, Volume 6, August 2021

An Editorial on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood obesity, in the context of SDGs 3 and 12, highlighting the need for governmental and commercial action advocating for healthier nutrition and intersectional collaboration between health and education sectors.
The authors demonstrate that water security is a powerful concept that is still in its early days in the nutrition literature. Water security also likely plays critical roles in outcomes upon which the public health community has broadly agreed as important: nutritional, mental, physical, and economic well-being. Increased attention to the benefits of ensuring water security and best practices for doing so are therefore needed
Responsive small-molecule fluorescence probe specific for target analyte detection is an emerging technology for food safety and quality analysis. In this work, we report a new water soluble small-molecule fluorescence probe (PG) for the detection of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in drinking water samples. Probe PG was developed by coupling of a glucosamine into 10-methyl-10H-phenothiazine fluorophore with a HOCl-responsive C=N bond. The thioether is another recognition site that can be oxidized to be sulfoxide in water.
Within recent years, demand as well as supply of products to replace meat, so called meat alternatives, have increased. For future products, new plant-based protein sources are of high interest. Protein from pea and especially from algae provide huge potential for human nutrition as well as for the environment. To provide insight on consumers' opinions on the development of new meat alternatives, this study investigated consumers' opinions of pea and algae burgers compared to the traditional beef burger in terms of taste, health, and environmental friendliness.
Elsevier,

International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, Volume 24, July 2021

A nudge experiment was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of presenting a menu with the dish-of-the-day (DoD) vs. a menu with free choice to facilitate consumer choice towards a fully plant-based, nutritious and tasty meal in foodservice setting. A menu card in control condition included the appetizer, the three mains and a dessert. The menu card in the intervention included the appetizer, eggplant lasagne as the DoD, and the dessert. Thirty-three volunteers ate twice at Future Consumer Lab in Copenhagen, once in each condition (67% women; mean age 25y; SD2.1).

The results from this study emphasize the role of targeted and integrated nutrition education approaches in improving OFSP (Orange-Fleshed Sweetpotato) consumption behavior; therefore, it is imperative to focus on increasing the rate of consumption of OFSP over time to ensure sustainable utilization of essential micronutrients.
The use of grains as an alternative to wheat in breadmaking has rapidly grown in the last few years, driven by the Sustainable Development Goals toward improving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture. Flours from legumes, pseudo-cereals, minor cereals and milling by-products, such as bran, are of particular interest. The production of partially substituted or wheat-free bread is, however, a challenging task in terms of texture and flavour attributes.
This book chapter addresses SDG 3 and 12 by explaining the complexity of the food industry in North America and that food employees have a responsibility to use proper food handling practices.

Pages