Food systems are important contributors to global emissions of air pollutants. Here, building on the EDGAR-FOOD database of greenhouse gas emissions, we estimate major air pollutant compounds emitted by different stages of the food system, at country level, during the past 50 years, resulting from food production, processing, packaging, transport, retail, consumption and disposal. Air pollutant estimates from food systems include total nitrogen and its components (N₂O, NH₃ and NO_x), SO₂, CO, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) and particulate matter (PM₁₀, PM_2.5, black carbon and organic carbon). We show that 10% to 90% of air pollutant emissions come from food systems, resulting from steady increases over the past five decades. In 2018, more than half of total N (and 87% of ammonia) emissions come from food systems and up to 35% of particulate matter. Food system emissions are responsible for about 22.4% of global mortality due to poor air quality and 1.4% of global crop production losses.

粮食系统是全球空气污染物排放的重要来源。在这里，基于温室气体排放的 EDGAR-FOOD 数据库，我们估算了过去 50 年食品系统不同阶段在国家层面排放的主要空气污染物化合物，这些污染物来自食品生产、加工、包装、运输、零售、消费和处置。来自食品系统的空气污染物估计值包括总氮及其成分（N ₂ O、NH ₃和 NO _x）、SO ₂、CO、非甲烷挥发性有机化合物 (NMVOC) 和颗粒物（PM ₁₀、PM _2.5、黑碳和有机碳）。我们表明，10% 到 90% 的空气污染物排放来自食品系统，这是过去五年稳步增长的结果。2018 年，超过一半的氮（和 87% 的氨）排放来自食品系统，以及高达 35% 的颗粒物。由于空气质量差，粮食系统排放约占全球死亡率的 22.4%，占全球作物生产损失的 1.4%。