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Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2024) | Viewed by 35248

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Emanuele Radicetti

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Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences (DOCPAS), University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Interests: sustainable food production; sustainable cultivation; environmental-friendly agricultural practices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Rana Muhammad Aadil

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Guest Editor

National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Interests: nonthermal technologies; sustainability; food safety; food processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ghulam Haider

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Department of Plant Biotechnology, Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Interests: plant ecophysiology and production; nitrogen dynamics; GHGs; biochar and soil remediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Paola Tedeschi

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences (DOCPAS), University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Interests: food safety; food composition; characterization and valorization of local food products

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

World food production has increased greatly in the past and secured food for millions of people around the world. However, there are still food insecurity issues in terms of either less or surplus food availability with poor quality leading to several challenges such as anemia, hidden hunger, and malnutrition, ultimately giving rise to the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Recently, the world has witnessed 811 million undernourished people with an increase of 118 million people from 2019 to 2020. Global food production and consumptions are the centers of the global economy. Thus, it has become inevitable to develop climate-resilient sustainable crop production systems to produce quality food and measures for the responsible use of available foods. However, progress toward reducing hunger is variable across the world.

Today, food and agriculture production systems worldwide are facing unprecedented challenges from an increasing demand for food for a growing population, rising hunger and malnutrition, adverse climate change effects, overexploitation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and food loss and waste. These challenges can undermine the world’s capacity to meet its food needs now and in the future. In other words, fewer people have adequate access to nutritious food. Our current food and agriculture systems need to be boosted to address the key challenges of our times, while millions still go hungry or malnourished. Achieving a level of production that meets our needs from an already seriously depleted natural resource base will be impossible without profound changes in our food and agriculture systems. We need to expand and accelerate the transition to sustainable food and agriculture which ensures world food security, provides economic and social opportunities, and protects the ecosystem services on which agriculture depends.

The main objective of the Special Issue is to publish original research, modeling approaches, and review papers addressing how agricultural production systems and the food industry could be implemented with a sustainable approach. To achieve this goal, Sustainability is encouraging researchers to submit relevant articles to this Special Issue. Therefore, manuscripts evaluating how innovative agricultural production systems and food technology could support sustainable practices and improve food productivity, transformation, as well as conservation and the food chain are welcome. This Special Issue aims to collate recent research measures centering on sustainable crop production and responsible consumption with reduced food losses. Research papers focusing on but not limited to the given topics are welcomed in the present Special Issue.

Sustainable crop production systems under the face of increasing weather extremes and global climate change;
Sustainable exploitation of natural resources for quality food production;
Relationships and impacts on society due to sustainable crop production and consumption system.

Dr. Emanuele Radicetti
Dr. Rana Muhammad Aadil
Dr. Ghulam Haider
Dr. Paola Tedeschi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

food systems
food chains
food networks
food security
food safety
food waste
food loss
food production
food processing
food policy
crop production

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3209 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Future Dietary Transformation and Its Impacts on the Environment in China

by Hongjie Sun, Benzheng Zhu and Qingqing Cao

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 13021; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713021 - 29 Aug 2023

Viewed by 789

Abstract

Meeting China’s future food consumption needs without increasing the environmental burden is one of the largest sustainability challenges in the ensuing decades. China is a typical urban–rural binary society, and there is a certain gap in the diets of urban and rural residents. With the advancement of urbanization, the future trend of Chinese urban and rural residents’ diets and its impact on the environment is a topic worth exploring. This study intends to examine the future changes in dietary intake of urban and rural residents in China as well as their impact on carbon emissions, virtual water, and arable land. These results indicate that the trend of decreasing grain consumption and increasing animal food consumption in China over the next 30 years will continue. However, the gap in per capita consumption of ruminant meat, aquatic products, and eggs between urban and rural residents will not be narrowed in the future. The combination of structural demand trends and population urbanization will likely impose stress on domestic food supplies over the long term. In addition, the burden of the dietary environment in China will further increase in the future, especially in urban areas, but rural areas will significantly decrease with a decrease in population size. In theory, if three alternative dietary scenarios are adopted, the environmental impact of Chinese residents’ diets can be significantly reduced in the future. More specifically, the demand gap for carbon emissions, virtual water, and arable land for urban residents’ diets in the future will exhibit heterogeneity under three alternative dietary scenarios. To achieve the long-term goals of ensuring food safety and sustainable environmental development in China in the future, it is necessary to take multiple measures, such as consuming a reasonable and balanced diet, reducing food waste, increasing agricultural technology investment, and increasing the import of resource-intensive food. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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19 pages, 1519 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparative Analysis of Public Awareness Level about Drinking Water Quality in Guangzhou (China) and Karachi (Pakistan)

by Imtiaz Hussain, Waseem Hayat, Siyuan Gong, Xiangjing Yang and Wing-Fu Lai

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8408; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108408 - 22 May 2023

Viewed by 1546

Abstract

Safe drinking water is fundamental for the existence of life. The establishment of public awareness about drinking water quality is a most significant issue in the protection of health and the wellbeing of humans. The present study focuses on the assessment of community awareness level of, as well as public trust in, the government-provided information about drinking water quality in two highly populated underrepresented megacities of Asia, i.e., Guangzhou (China) and Karachi (Pakistan). The study was conducted to explore the respondents’ knowledge about the existing quality issues and the practices to remove the contaminants in drinking water in both cities, which was determined by numerical analysis using the scoring method system and multinomial regression model. The results show that the respective respondents’ percentage awareness level and positive attitude in Guangzhou were 46.2% and 30.0% compared with 23.1% and 7.4% in Karachi, respectively. The respective percentage of respondents’ trust in media stories/reports about water pollution accidents was 76.0% and 70.8%, while the trust in government-provided information was 79.3% and 39.7% in Guangzhou and Karachi, respectively. The p-values for drinking water quality according to public approval based on sociodemographic parameters (gender, age, family members, household income/month, education, etc.) of respondents in both cities were <0.05, which supports that the variations in acquired results were significant. The study advocates that increased awareness campaigns by government agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in educational institutes and/or community centers can improve the public awareness level, which would subsequently help the governments to enhance the public trust, especially in Karachi. Moreover, the study’s findings have national significance and a worldwide scope, particularly in low- and middle-income regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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13 pages, 2208 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Electroporator for Continuous Pasteurisation: Design and Performance Evaluation with Orange Juice

by Rai Naveed Arshad, Zulkurnain Abdul-Malek, Yanti M. M. Jusoh, Emanuele Radicetti, Paola Tedeschi, Roberto Mancinelli, Jose M. Lorenzo and Rana Muhammad Aadil

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1896; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031896 - 07 Feb 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1785

Abstract

Electroporation is a simple but effective and sustainable food processing way of treating cell membranes with an electric field. It is employed in a variety of ways in the food industry, ranging from shelf-life extension to green extraction. Despite its wide range of applications, electroporators are out of reach for many labs due to their high development costs, and different electroporators have been tailored to specific applications. The designing sequence of an electroporator that takes the geometry of a treatment chamber and its electrical resistance into account for the design of a pulse generator has not been addressed in published literature. To meet this demand, this study presents a straightforward way to develop a simple, affordable, and portable electroporator for liquid food pasteurisation. The proposed electroporator comprises a coaxial treatment chamber with static mixers and a high-voltage Marx bank based on insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). The generator has a 4.5 kV output voltage and a peak current rating of 1 kA; however, the modular design allows for a wide range of voltage and current ratings. Treated orange juice using thermal pasteurisation (65 °C, 30 min) was also used for comparison. The performance of the electroporator was studied using chemical and microbial tests. A significant log reduction (5.4 CFU·mL⁻¹) was observed in both the PEF-treated samples with sieves. Additionally, the treated juice visual and chemical color analysis showed that the PEF-treated sample extended the shelf-life after 9 days of storage at 4 °C. This research also examines the energy conversion in these two processing steps. This study assists in developing further electroporators for other food applications with different treatment chambers without compromising the product’s quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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14 pages, 941 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Occupational Risk Assessment in School Food Services: Instruments’ Construction and Internal Validation

by Jeane dos Santos Ferreira, Maria da Purificação Nazaré Araújo, Rosemary da Rocha Fonseca Barroso, Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho, Renata Puppin Zandonadi, António Raposo, Heesup Han, Luis Araya-Castillo, Antonio Ariza-Montes and Rita de Cássia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1728; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031728 - 02 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2189

Abstract

Occupational risk assessment in school food services (SFS) should include factors related to occupational hygiene, physical–functional planning, worker health, and good meal production practices. This study aimed to develop an instrument to assess occupational risk in school food services and perform content validation and semantic evaluation. The research included three steps: (i) instrument’s development; (ii) content validation (Delphi); and (iii) semantic evaluation (focus group). After an extensive literature review, four instruments were developed. The Delphi was validated by the Content Validity Coefficient (CVC), with an agreement greater than 90%. The semantic analysis was performed through four meetings using a focus group. After the content and semantic evaluation, there were four final instruments: Identification of Socioeconomic and Demographic Conditions of Food Handlers and Geographical Mapping of SFS (30 items); Knowledge and Attitudes in Food Hygiene Assessment (33 items); Perception of Occupational Risks (16 items); and Mapping of Occupational Risks in SFS (97 items). Instrument’s content validation and semantic evaluation contributed to constructing and validating forms for analyzing occupational risks and adjusting respondents’ language and sociocultural components. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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Review

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22 pages, 1144 KiB

Open AccessReview

Consumer Social and Psychological Factors Influencing the Use of Genetically Modified Foods—A Review

by Shahida Anusha Siddiqui, Zarnab Asif, Misbah Murid, Ito Fernando, Danung Nur Adli, Andrey Vladimirovich Blinov, Alexey Borisovich Golik, Widya Satya Nugraha, Salam A. Ibrahim and Seid Mahdi Jafari

Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15884; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315884 - 29 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5163

Abstract

Due to rapid globalization in the world, the understanding of cultural differences, such as beliefs, values, ways of thinking, and perceptions about new technologies in food processing have also increased. Since the 1990s, when genetically modified (GM) foods were introduced into the food supply, they have provoked many debates. In this review, it was identified and discussed how social and psychological factors influence public attitudes to GM foods and the perceptions of consumers in using GM foods. According to this review, GM foods are deemed unnatural and artificial, thus affecting the overall acceptance of their application. Due to the concerns about their effects on the environment and human health, people expect an assessment of the known or possible dangers, as well as the preventative management of the risks. Providing adequate information about GM foods via a compulsory labeling policy may serve as an appropriate way to increase public awareness and acceptance of GM foods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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22 pages, 1475 KiB

Open AccessReview

Cultural, Social and Psychological Factors of the Conservative Consumer towards Legal Cannabis Use—A Review since 2013

by Shahida Anusha Siddiqui, Prachi Singh, Sipper Khan, Ito Fernando, Igor Spartakovich Baklanov, Tigran Garrievich Ambartsumov and Salam A. Ibrahim

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10993; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710993 - 02 Sep 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 6577

Abstract

Cannabis consumption has become the center of much debate globally. The positive public perception of the medicinal benefits of cannabis and the rise of recreational usage of cannabis necessitate dramatic changes in cannabis reform policy. As a consequence, there is an increase in cannabis legalization around the globe, although it is still facing many rejections. It is crucial to understand the factors affecting public acceptance of cannabis use to support the contextualization and success of cannabis legalization. This review aims to address consumer cultural, social and psychological factors regarding the legal use of cannabis. Based on this review, cultures influence the endorsement or rejection of cannabis use depending on political views, religious sentiments and affiliated subcultures (adult, youth and adolescent subcultures). Regarding the social factors, socioeconomic status, measured by income, education level and occupation, is a key determinant of cannabis use. The beliefs opposing cannabis legalization are due to the negative stigma surrounding cannabis use. Nevertheless, growing awareness about the pharmaceutical and therapeutic effects of cannabis has led to an increase in positive attitudes towards cannabis legalization. Thus, dissemination of cannabis use benefits reaffirmed by scientific evidence could be a strategic way to alleviate the public’s negative feedback on cannabis legalization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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25 pages, 913 KiB

Open AccessReview

Avoiding Food Neophobia and Increasing Consumer Acceptance of New Food Trends—A Decade of Research

by Shahida Anusha Siddiqui, Oscar Zannou, Ikawati Karim, Kasmiati, Nour M. H. Awad, Janusz Gołaszewski, Volker Heinz and Sergiy Smetana

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10391; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610391 - 21 Aug 2022

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 10163

Abstract

The increasingly fierce competition in food trends requires producers to innovate and develop new foods to be accepted and to avoid neophobia by consumers at the same time. Food neophobia’s motivational adoption barriers include the consumption of novel foods, social norms and conflicting eating goals. Therefore, appropriate strategies are needed to avoid neophobia amid the presence of new food trends in the market. Efforts to avoid food neophobia can also be accepted as part of the sustainability concept, in which the consumer has new foods to choose from in order to reduce scarcity in one particular type of food. The food industry is also challenged to produce healthy food by producing food from natural ingredients. In this article, new food trends and advances in food processing are described, and through them, strategies to avoid neophobia and increase consumer acceptance of new food trends are referenced. Neophobia meets marketing food products delivered to consumers facing motivational adoption barriers, such as the consumption of novel foods, social norms and conflicting eating goals, which are indicated to be challenges to purchase drivers in new food trends. Tasting foods is indicated as one of the most efficient means to ensure neophobia reduction in new foods and new food trends. Other factors identified to reduce food neophobia are education, income, taste and exposure to novel foods. Some preconditions for novel foods to be accepted by consumers are related to the very nature of food innovation, the manufacturer’s features and market circumstances. Food processed with advanced technologies may differ depending on the brand of the food production company and the knowledge of consumers about the novel foods. Moreover, food technology is seen as more acceptable for plant food products based or natural ingredients for consumers. In addition to the focus on health benefits, it is supports the sustainability of food systems. Another accidental element is the transparent traceability system providing accurate and adequate information about such novel foods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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27 pages, 1117 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

High-Pressure Processing for Sustainable Food Supply

by Brera Ghulam Nabi, Kinza Mukhtar, Rai Naveed Arshad, Emanuele Radicetti, Paola Tedeschi, Muhammad Umar Shahbaz, Noman Walayat, Asad Nawaz, Muhammad Inam-Ur-Raheem and Rana Muhammad Aadil

Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13908; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413908 - 16 Dec 2021

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 5602

Abstract

Sustainable food supply has gained considerable consumer concern due to the high percentage of spoilage microorganisms. Food industries need to expand advanced technologies that can maintain the nutritive content of foods, enhance the bio-availability of bioactive compounds, provide environmental and economic sustainability, and fulfill consumers’ requirements of sensory characteristics. Heat treatment negatively affects food samples’ nutritional and sensory properties as bioactives are sensitive to high-temperature processing. The need arises for non-thermal processes to reduce food losses, and sustainable developments in preservation, nutritional security, and food safety are crucial parameters for the upcoming era. Non-thermal processes have been successfully approved because they increase food quality, reduce water utilization, decrease emissions, improve energy efficiency, assure clean labeling, and utilize by-products from waste food. These processes include pulsed electric field (PEF), sonication, high-pressure processing (HPP), cold plasma, and pulsed light. This review describes the use of HPP in various processes for sustainable food processing. The influence of this technique on microbial, physicochemical, and nutritional properties of foods for sustainable food supply is discussed. This approach also emphasizes the limitations of this emerging technique. HPP has been successfully analyzed to meet the global requirements. A limited global food source must have a balanced approach to the raw content, water, energy, and nutrient content. HPP showed positive results in reducing microbial spoilage and, at the same time, retains the nutritional value. HPP technology meets the essential requirements for sustainable and clean labeled food production. It requires limited resources to produce nutritionally suitable foods for consumers’ health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Foods in the Face of Hunger and Surplus: From Sustainable Production to Responsible Consumption)

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