The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, IPES-Food, is a new initiative aimed at informing the debate on how to reform food systems. IPES-Food has identified 10 key principles to guide the urgently-needed transition to sustainable food systems. They include principles to shape the sustainable food systems of the future, as well as principles for the types of knowledge and analysis that are required to support this transition. These principles will underpin the work of IPES-Food over the coming years.