The sustainability of food systems is commonly measured at the global or national level using multidimensional indices. However, it is not possible to use such indices at subnational levels, because the data for many indicators are not available and large countries such as Brazil have completely different food systems depending on the state or region considered. This paper presents a sustainable food systems framework for Brazil and the Brazilian Multidimensional Index for Sustainable Food Systems (MISFS), which is the first index of its kind that considers local behaviors and actions to rank states and regions of the country. The dimensions and indicators included in the index were identified from a literature review and an exclusion criteria, which considered the Brazilian context, that ended up with 17 indicators divided in three dimensions (environmental, socioeconomic, and nutritional). We followed well-known procedures to create an interpretable multidimensional index, which include normalization, weighting, aggregating, and sensitivity analysis. The performance of the states was starkly different, regarding the indicators and dimensions considered. No state presented a high score for all three dimensions, and even states with a high MISFS score had room to improve in one or two dimensions. In general, high-income states scored well on socioeconomic indicators (e.g., agriculture education), but poorly on most environmental indicators (e.g., water footprint), and some nutritional indicators (e.g., obesity rate). This index is the first initiative to measure the Brazilian food systems according to local practices and behaviors at state level and it is a starting point to help policymakers understand the opportunities of improvement of their food systems. This study may also help other countries to develop their own frameworks and strategies to improve their regionalized food systems.

粮食系统的可持续性通常是在全球或国家层面使用多维指标来衡量的。但是，由于无法获得许多指标的数据，而且像巴西这样的大国（取决于所考虑的州或地区）拥有完全不同的食品系统，因此无法在地方以下级别使用此类指数。本文介绍了巴西的可持续食品系统框架和巴西可持续食品系统多维索引（MISFS），这是同类索引中第一个考虑地方行为和行动以对该国家州和地区进行排名的索引。索引中包含的维度和指标是根据文献回顾和排除标准（考虑了巴西的情况）确定的，最终得出了17个指标，分为三个维度（环境，社会经济和营养）。我们遵循众所周知的过程来创建可解释的多维索引，其中包括规范化，加权，聚合和敏感性分析。就所考虑的指标和规模而言，各州的表现截然不同。没有一个州在这三个维度上都获得高分，甚至MISFS得分高的州在一个或两个维度上都有改善的空间。一般而言，高收入州在社会经济指标（例如农业教育）上得分高，但是在大多数环境指标（例如水足迹）和一些营养指标（例如肥胖率）上得分较低。该指数是根据州一级的当地实践和行为来衡量巴西食品系统的第一个举措，并且是帮助决策者了解改善其食品系统的机会的起点。这项研究还可以帮助其他国家制定自己的框架和战略，以改善其区域食品体系。