Dear colleagues, 

Consumers’ food practices consist of many trade-offs. Some trade taste for low fat, other offer convenience for control, or money for quality. Retailers and food producers have their trade-offs in relation to placement, shelf life, product quality, labeling, production cost, etc. In this Special Issue of Sustainability, we want to focus on one specific trade-off: sustainability vs. food safety. We welcome papers that empirically investigate this trade-off from consumers’, retailers’, or food manufacturers’ point of view. 

Food production contributes to a significant share of total greenhouse gas emissions and energy use globally (Hanssen et al. 2017). Food production requires resources and has an adverse impact on the environment, whether it is consumed or not (Kasza et al. 2020). A more sustainable food system that results in less food waste will therefore have a positive impact on the global environmental footprint, and may also influence the economy, food security, and the fight against hunger (Lemaire and Limbourge, 2019). 

While reduction of waste in the food chain is clearly an important sustainability issue, some of the seemingly obvious solutions can potentially raise the food safety risk by setting aside well set food safety rules (Kasza et al. 2019).  Since food borne illnesses account for about 600 million cases of illness and 420,000 deaths globally every year (World Health Organization, 2015), it is problematic if food safety is traded off for sustainability. Consumer handling in the store or at home causes 40% of all food borne outbreaks (EFSA, 2015). Accordingly, it is important to understand not only if and how retailers and food producers, but also consumers, trade off food safety for sustainability. 

We welcome papers that look specifically at the sustainability-food safety trade-offs along the whole value chain from production to consumption. For example, a non-exclusive list of relevant topics follows:

• Labelling and marketing campaigns effect on consumers sustainability and food safety trade-off
• Suboptimal food and food safety
• Sustainable food handling practices (in production, retail, or by consumers’) effect on food safety.
• Consumers sensory evaluation of food waste and food safety
• At-risk groups trade-offs of food safety and sustainability
• Sustainability and food safety beliefs effect on behavior.
• Food packaging and food safety
• Sustainability and safety trade-offs within retail and distribution
• Circular economy and food safety

Prof. Dr. Nina Veflen
Dr. Gyula Kasza
Guest Editors

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