Many global food-waste frameworks do not account for multiple concurrent factors, such as culture, time, context and the aims of the stakeholders. Using the semantic tools developed in the philosophical fields of analytic metaphysics and analytic ontology, we propose a framework to explore and document the conceptual nuances of food waste. By discussing food waste from the positions of substantivalism

Despite such safeguards and a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy for illegal land occupation — among other measures to prevent the ‘non-agriculturalization’ of arable land and the ‘non-food cultivation’ of basic farmland3 — illegal occupation of arable land persists. In 2021 and 2022, inspections by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources uncovered 112 cases of illegal occupation of arable land, including unauthorized

China’s agricultural sector is undergoing rapid mechanization. Sustainable development of the sector will require low-carbon fuel substitutions and region-specific agricultural management strategies to remain within emission reduction targets.

Although the need for healthy and sustainable diets is unquestionable, what exactly needs to change, and how, remains to be answered.

Nutrition education and food assistance programmes have the potential to reduce the societal burdens that disproportionately impact those living in low-resource contexts. Here, we call for a standardized evaluation framework, measures and procedures for assessing nutrition education programmes in the USA as critical for achieving nutrition security and population health while lowering the national

Correction to: Nature Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01089-5, published online 13 January 2025.

Estimating food biodiversity remains a challenge due to a lack of consensus on what to measure and how. A dietary diversity index based on Hill numbers offers a simple and effective approach to account for food biodiversity in diets.

Despite growing recognition of how food environments shape our eating behaviour, existing policy interventions to change them remain insufficient. Approaches focused on the food supply itself, driven by grassroots social change rather than solely top-down policy, are particularly important to improve diet quality.

In a recent paper published in Nature Medicine, Anne-Julie Tessier, from the University of Montreal, and colleagues examined the association between healthy ageing and adherence to 8 dietary patterns and ultra-processed food consumption over 30 years. Healthy ageing was defined as living to the age of 70 without the presence of 11 chronic diseases and maintaining intact physical and cognitive functions

Agricultural subsoils are susceptible to multiple global change factors such as warming, nutrient enrichment and intensive land management practices. Understanding how the preservation of subsoil biodiversity and its functioning can be maintained through the management of plants remains to be discovered.

Environmental performance varies widely between different aquaculture production systems in China. Promoting strategies that have smaller footprints can improve the environmental sustainability of aquaculture and contribute to more sustainable agrifood systems.

Mitigating climate change and ensuring food security require a reconfiguration of the ammonia supply chain through a holistic and region-specific mitigation strategy.

This month, Nature Food presents a Focus issue on the recent evolution of food environments, their influence on individual food choices and efforts to reduce their impact on public health.

Reduced access to healthy diets, combined with the pervasiveness of ultra-processed foods, pose severe consequences for public health and the environment. Francesco Branca, former director of the World Health Organization’s Department of Nutrition and Food Safety and invited professor of public health at the University of Geneva, reflects on our current food environment and the need to steer it towards

As global food loss and waste continue to rise, innovative recycling strategies are urgently needed. A new study highlights that the transition from landfill disposal to a circular bioeconomy can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve sustainability in food systems.

Correction to: Nature Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00762-5, published online 31 May 2023.

Situating digital agriculture within recent histories of uneven agrarian development reveals its potential to perpetuate injustice. To avoid this outcome, we argue for innovation processes that centre the needs, knowledge and priorities of communities who work the land.

Recognizing front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPL) as an important tool for promoting healthier diets, the European Commission announced in 2020 that it would propose legislation for mandatory, harmonized FOPL as of 2022. Among existing FOPL schemes that could be used to that end, Nutri-Score (a summary, colour-coded system) stands out as the most widely adopted since 2017, with studies documenting

Unhealthy diets contribute to one in every five deaths in the United States, yet federal policy action to improve dietary quality has been limited. We argue that researchers and advocates should engage in state and local food policymaking, which offers an important complementary avenue for creating healthier food environments and improving diet quality. We outline key questions researchers can address

Global food systems are dominated by large corporations that are primarily driven by the goal of maximizing profits and shareholder value. Strengthening corporate accountability to promote health, equity and environmental sustainability is a critical part of recalibrating current corporatized food systems.

During the past 100 years, intensive farming practices on black soils have led to extensive erosion4. Notable examples include the Dust Bowl in Ukraine in 1928 and in the United States in the 1930s. In China, the degradation of black soil under climate change includes thinning, nutrient depletion, compaction and acidification. Recent estimates indicate that the organic matter content of the black soil

Public institutions, as essential providers of meals to diverse communities, have a responsibility to support sustainable and equitable food systems through strategic procurement policies. By adopting robust sustainability criteria and supporting rural economies, they can strengthen food system resilience. By also ensuring nutritious food is accessible, public-sector catering plays a key role in the

Correction to: Nature Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0113-y, published online 6 July 2020.

The increasing polarization of food systems debates hampers transformation towards sustainability. Making knowledge actionable and action knowledgeable is key for our society to move forward, says Patrick Caron.

replying to Y. Gong and Y. Yang Nature Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01116-z (2025) We are pleased that Gong and Yang1 consider our work2 an important contribution for alleviating the multiple environmental stresses caused by the global expansion of animal production and its associated increased demand for animal feed3,4,5. Our study2 revealed that the pressures on land use and the environment

arising from Q. Fang et al. Nature Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00813-x (2023) Global demand for animal feed, driven by growing meat consumption, has resulted in deforestation, carbon emissions and biodiversity loss, underscoring the need to improve the environmental sustainability of feed production1. Fang and colleagues2 developed a linear feed allocation optimization model and estimated

Crop rotation has been shown to synergistically improve barley yields and soil quality on the Tibetan Plateau, where challenging climatic conditions, limited crop choices and low baseline soil fertility threaten agricultural sustainability.