Policy Briefs

– Justine Labarre, Unesco Chair in World Food Systems, Montpellier, France Claire Néel, INRAE, UMR Innovation, Montpellier, France Coline Perrin, INRAE, UMR Innovation, Montpellier, France Nicolas Bricas, Cirad, UMR MoISA and Unesco Chair in World Food Systems, Montpellier, France
Key points The work presented here complements the traditional measurement of food aid beneficiary numbers by proposing an index to identify territories with presumed food insecurity. This index is based on open (...)

– Nicole Darmon, INRAE, UMR MoISA, Montpellier, France Romane Poinsot, MS-Nutrition, Marseille, France Florent Vieux, MS-Nutrition, Marseille, France
Key points Current French school catering regulations require at least one unground red meat meal and one vegetarian meal to be served every week. In school meals, the choice of the dish to serve as a “protein dish” has a strong influence on the environmental impact of the meal and little influence on its nutritional quality. Meals with a (...)

– Juliana Yael Milovich, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, United Kingdom Elena Villar, Department of Economics and Finance, Catholic University of Milan, Italy
Key points The aggressive expansion of African palm farming in Guatemala is exacerbating chronic child undernutrition by jeopardizing families’ access to sufficient food. Nutritional health programmes that operate at local level and involve all community members are particularly effective in reducing child (...)

– Marine Mas, UMR CSGA, INRAE, Dijon, France Stéphanie Chambaron, UMR CSGA, INRAE, Dijon, France Marie-Claude Brindisi, CHU Bourgogne, Dijon, France
Key points All individuals tend to “go towards” food automatically, especially food that is energy-dense. This potentially explains the obesogenic effect of the Western food environment. Some individuals have a cognitive vulnerability to the food environment. This vulnerability is driven by more than conscious factors, and challenges the “lack of (...)

Jean-Louis Rastoin, L’Institut Agro Montpellier, France
Key points The market price of food products reflects only a limited share (between a third and half) of their true cost if we take into account the negative externalities associated with their production, distribution and consumption. These harmful impacts pertain to human health (50% of hidden costs on average), the environment (30%), and the economy (20%). These figures vary due to the territorial diversity of food systems. (...)

– Carla Altenburger, L’Institut Agro Montpellier, UMR Innovation and UMR IRISSO, Paris, France
Key points Looking at sustainable food practices, understood here as the purchase of products labelled as “organic” or “fair trade” or that refer to a geographical origin, the French population can be split into consumers and non-consumers of such products. All the consumers surveyed fit one of four typical profiles, the comparison of which shows that sustainable food practices are strongly shaped by (...)

– Mazarine Girardin, Sorbonne University, Paris, France Coline Perrin, Christophe Soulard, Simon Vonthron, INRAE, UMR Innovation, Montpellier, France
Key points Municipalities can steer the food supply by regulating the public space occupancy conditions (markets, food trucks, restaurant terraces, etc.) and/or by maintaining ownership control of certain ground floors and commercial premises. They also influence shopper traffic in retail areas via the design of public spaces and their (...)

– Daisy Recchia, Caroline Méjean, Marlène Perignon, Pascaline Rollet, Inrae, UMR MoISA, Montpellier, France Nicolas Bricas, Cirad, UMR MoISA, Montpellier, France Simon Vonthron, Coline Perrin, Inrae, UMR Innovation, Montpellier, France Géraldine Chaboud, Chaire Unesco Alimentations du monde, Montpellier, France
Key points? More than 75% of households have physical access to a range of different food outlets in their activity spaces, including areas around the home, work and other places of (...)

– Béryl Muller, Nicolas Bricas, Cirad, UMR MoISA, Montpellier, France Simon Vonthron, Coline Perrin, Inrae, UMR Innovation, Montpellier, France
Key points Food outlet mapping enables local authorities to identify populations in their territory that do not have access to a nearby food shop. In Greater Montpellier, there are major differences in physical access to food shops depending on the distance from the city centre. Communities on the remote periphery are the furthest away from shops (...)

Mark Spires, Centre for Food Policy – City, University of London Sigrid Wertheim-Heck, Environmental Policy Group – Wageningen University and Research Michelle Holdsworth, UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems/Montpellier Interdisciplinary Centre on Sustainable Agri-food Systems – Montpellier, France Corinna Hawkes, Centre for Food Policy – City, University of London
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Food environments – the interface between people and the food system – play a critical role in shaping (...)