Recommended reads ahead of the Food Systems Summit – Action track 1: Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all

13/07/2021

Ahead of the Food Systems Summit, here is a list of FAO publications related to Action Track 1: Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all.

Nutrition-related publications

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 – Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all
This year’s edition presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 as well as new estimates of the cost and affordability of healthy diets.

Fruit and vegetables – your dietary essentials: The international year of fruits and vegetables 2021 background paper
The International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021 (IYFV) aims to raise awareness about the nutritional and health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption. This paper provides an overview of the activities that will take place during the IYFV.

Food systems and nutrition: Handbook for parliamentarians N°32
This handbook provides parliamentarians with practical guidance for supporting legislative processes that prioritize nutrition. It identifies entry points for parliamentary interventions covering the areas of representation, legislation, budget and oversight.

Additional resources 

• Vision and Strategy for FAO’s Work in Nutrition
• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 – Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets
• Cost and affordability of healthy diets across and within countries
• Home-grown school feeding resource framework
• Leveraging food systems to reduce poverty and malnutrition
• Innovation for sustainable, healthy, and inclusive agrifood systems and rural societies in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Nutrition-sensitive investments in agriculture and food systems
• Nutrition and cash-based interventions technical guidance to improve nutrition through cash-based interventions
• Sustainable healthy diets guiding principles
• Stories from Africa – Changing lives through diversified healthy foods
• Technical note on sustainable food systems: Issue-based Coalition on sustainable food systems for Europe and Central Asia

Food safety-related publications

Microbiological risk assessment – Guidance for food
This document provides guidance on risk assessment for all microbial hazards that may adversely affect human health along the food chain, focusing on hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization.

Looking at edible insects from a food safety perspective. Challenges and opportunities for the sector
The farming of insects for food and feed is on the rise and brings both benefits and challenges. This publication presents food safety hazards that could be associated with edible insects, including biological agents and chemical contaminants. 

Understanding Codex
The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Such standards cover all the main foods and also material used in the further processing of food.

Additional resources

• Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety
• Codex and the SDGs – How participation in Codex Alimentarius supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
• Food control system assessment tool
• Food safety technical toolkit for Asia and the Pacific

• Policy makers speak up for safer food in Asia and the Pacific
• Backyard farming and slaughtering: keeping tradition safe
• Investing in food safety for global benefits a concrete case in the association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) countries
• Food allergies: leaving no one behind
• Food fraud intention, detection and management
• Organic foods: are they safer?
• Parasites in foods: an invisible threat
• Slowing down superbugs: legislation and antimicrobial resistance
• Measuring food safety indicators to achieve Sustainable Development Goals

Policy briefs

• COVID-19 and the role of local food production in building more resilient local food systems
• Food system policy priorities and programmatic actions for healthy diets in the context of COVID-19
• Maintaining a healthy diet during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Urban food systems and COVID-19
• Food Safety in the time of COVID-19
• The dual threat of extreme weather and the COVID-19 crisis: Anticipating the impacts on food availability
• Impacts of coronavirus on food security and nutrition in Asia and the Pacific: Building more resilient food systems
• COVID-19 and malnutrition: situation analysis and options in Africa 

Forthcoming

• The State of Food and Agriculture 2021