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From Farm to Fork: Balancing the Needs for Sustainable Food Production and Food for Health Promotion

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 9189

Special Issue Editors

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland
Interests: the impact of land use; land use change on soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions; carbon storage in harvested wood products; forest ecosystem services; nutrient stores in forest biomass
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Interests: inflammation; polar lipids; nutritional status; functional foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current and future sustainability of humanity is intrinsically linked to the environmental and biophysical conditions on our planet. There is a widespread belief that these conditions are greatly compromised by anthropogenic activity and that, unless action is taken, irreversible change will be unavoidable. Alongside these challenges is a growing human population and the need for sufficient and nutritional food. Although recent international initiatives such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and associated 17 Sustainable Development Goals recognize these challenges significant information gaps remain. In particular, there is an ever-growing need to balance the interdependencies and conflicts between economic, social and environmental systems so that sustainability across local and global scales and overall food security can be realized.

This special issue will address these issues and seeks contributions from colleagues interested in sustainable food production from economic, social and environmental perspectives as well as health promotion. Contributions which address synergies and conflicts between these issues are especially welcome. This special issue aims to publish high quality research papers and reviews that will be of interest to scientists, policy makers, educators and stakeholders across the full spectrum of farm to fork for sustainable food production and health promotion.

Kind Regards,

Dr. Ken Byrne
Dr. Ioannis Zabetakis
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

  • sustainability
  • food security
  • nutrition, health
  • sustainable development
  • water and carbon footprints of food

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 182 KiB  
Editorial
Farm to Fork: Balancing the Needs for Sustainable Food Production and Food for Health Promotion
by Kenneth A. Byrne and Ioannis Zabetakis
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3396; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15043396 - 13 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 977
Abstract
Food is an essential human need underpinning health and wellbeing, while also having the potential to support environmental sustainability [...] Full article

Research

Jump to: Editorial

19 pages, 3767 KiB  
Article
Phytoremediation of Cadmium Contaminated Soil Using Sesbania sesban L. in Association with Bacillus anthracis PM21: A Biochemical Analysis
by Javed Ali, Xiukang Wang, Mazhar Rafique, Iftikhar Ahmad, Sajid Fiaz, Muhammad Farooq Hussain Munis and Hassan Javed Chaudhary
Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13529; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132413529 - 07 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2257
Abstract
Sustainable food production to feed nine to 10 billion people by 2050 is one of the greatest challenges we face in the 21st century. Due to anthropogenic activities, cadmium (Cd) contamination is ubiquitous with deleterious effects on plant and soil microbiota. In the [...] Read more.
Sustainable food production to feed nine to 10 billion people by 2050 is one of the greatest challenges we face in the 21st century. Due to anthropogenic activities, cadmium (Cd) contamination is ubiquitous with deleterious effects on plant and soil microbiota. In the current study, the phytoremediation potential of Sesbania sesban L. was investigated in Cd-spiked soil inoculated with Bacillus anthracis PM21. The Cd-spiked soil drastically reduced important plant attributes; however, inoculation of B. anthracis PM21 significantly (p ≤ 0.05) enhanced root length (17.21%), shoot length (15.35%), fresh weight (37.02%), dry weight (28.37%), chlorophyll a (52.79%), chlorophyll b (48.38%), and total chlorophyll contents (17.65%) at the Cd stress level of 200 mg/kg as compared to the respective control. In addition, bacterial inoculation improved superoxide dismutase (11.98%), peroxidase (12.16%), catalase (25.26%), and relative water content (16.66%) whereas it reduced proline content (16.37%), malondialdehyde content (12.67%), and electrolyte leakage (12.5%). Inoculated plants showed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher Cd concentration in the S. sesban root (118.6 mg/kg) and shoot (73.4 mg/kg) with a translocation (0.61) and bioconcentration factor (0.36), at 200 mg/kg Cd. Surface characterization of bacteria through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) predicted the involvement of various functional groups and cell surface morphology in the adsorption of Cd ions. Amplification of the CzcD gene in strain PM21, improved antioxidant activities, and the membrane stability of inoculated S. sesban plants conferred Cd tolerance of strain PM21. In addition, the evaluated bacterial strain B. anthracis PM21 revealed significant plant growth-promoting potential in S. sesban; thus, it can be an effective candidate for phyto-remediation of Cd-polluted soil. Full article
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14 pages, 3721 KiB  
Article
The Reduction of Crude Protein with the Supplementation of Amino Acids in the Diet Reduces the Environmental Impact of Growing Pigs Production Evaluated through Life Cycle Assessment
by Lucas A. C. Esteves, Alessandra N. T. R. Monteiro, Natália Y. Sitanaka, Paula C. Oliveira, Leandro D. Castilha, Vinicius R. C. Paula and Paulo C. Pozza
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4815; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13094815 - 25 Apr 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2451
Abstract
Two experiments were performed to determine the digestibility of diets with crude protein (CP) reduction supplemented with amino acids (18.15; 17.15; 16.15 and 15.15%) to growing pigs (30–50 kg), to assess the use of nutrients and account for the manure excretion, and to [...] Read more.
Two experiments were performed to determine the digestibility of diets with crude protein (CP) reduction supplemented with amino acids (18.15; 17.15; 16.15 and 15.15%) to growing pigs (30–50 kg), to assess the use of nutrients and account for the manure excretion, and to evaluate the performance, backfat thickness, Longissimus lumborum depth, and plasma urea, aiming to evaluate the environmental impact through life cycle assessment (LCA); for the first time in Brazil interacting experiments were developed to evaluate the CP reduction and LCA. The CP reduction resulted in greater daily weight gain (p = 0.011), final weight (p = 0.020), better use of N and P, through the greater N and P retained (p = 0.003 and p = 0.017, respectively). There was a linear reduction in acidification potential (p = 0.015), eutrophication potential (p = 0.001), and land occupation (p = 0.005) when dietary CP decreased from 18.15 to 15.15%. The reduction in CP and supplementation of amino acids in diets for growing pigs (30–50 kg) improved final and daily weight gain. Through LCA, and performance and metabolism data, it was concluded that for the acidification, eutrophication and land occupation categories, impacts were reduced as the protein concentration was reduced. Full article
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21 pages, 2507 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from a Traditional Nutrient-Rich Cambodian Diet Food Production System Using Life Cycle Assessment
by Rathna Hor, Phanna Ly, Agusta Samodra Putra, Riaru Ishizaki, Tofael Ahamed and Ryozo Noguchi
Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3660; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13073660 - 25 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2424
Abstract
Traditional Cambodian food has higher nutrient balances and is environmentally sustainable compared to conventional diets. However, there is a lack of knowledge and evidence on nutrient intake and the environmental greenness of traditional food at different age distributions. The relationship between nutritional intake [...] Read more.
Traditional Cambodian food has higher nutrient balances and is environmentally sustainable compared to conventional diets. However, there is a lack of knowledge and evidence on nutrient intake and the environmental greenness of traditional food at different age distributions. The relationship between nutritional intake and environmental impact can be evaluated using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from agricultural production based on life cycle assessment (LCA). The objective of this study was to estimate the CO2 equivalent (eq) emissions from the traditional Cambodian diet using LCA, starting at each agricultural production phase. A one-year food consumption scenario with the traditional diet was established. Five breakfast (BF1–5) and seven lunch and dinner (LD1–7) food sets were consumed at the same rate and compared using LCA. The results showed that BF1 and LD2 had the lowest and highest emissions (0.3 Mt CO2 eq/yr and 1.2 Mt CO2 eq/yr, respectively). The food calories, minerals, and vitamins met the recommended dietary allowance. The country’s existing food production system generates CO2 emissions of 9.7 Mt CO2 eq/yr, with the proposed system reducing these by 28.9% to 6.9 Mt CO2 eq/yr. The change in each food item could decrease emissions depending on the type and quantity of the food set, especially meat and milk consumption. Full article
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