That is the title of a new article I have in Science with coauthors Yi Yang, Dave Tillman, Jess Fanzo, Carola Grebitus, Kelly Haws, Mario Herrero, Susan Jebb, David Just, Allen Levine, David Julian McClements, Ole Mouritsen, Rachel Pechey, and Chris Barrett.
Here is the abstract:
The industrialization of global food systems has led to dietary changes that harm both health and the environment. If global food systems are to meet the needs of a growing population for healthy, environmentally sustainable, and affordable diets, substantial changes will be required. In this Review, we synthesize growing empirical evidence on the complexity of factors that influence consumer dietary and farmer production choices, especially the roles of public and private entities that shape food environments. We outline promising interventions to help facilitate beneficial global dietary transitions, including research and development for product innovation, regulation of food environments, and food assistance and food-as-medicine programs. Understanding and aligning the motives and incentives of various food system actors is essential to achieve improved health, environment, and equity outcomes.
In the article, we steer clear from a lot of could-should-would statements in the extant literature to consider the question of how we can ensure a transition toward sustainable, healthy, and equitable diets (SHE diets) for countries at all levels of income. What I like about the piece is that we take seriously the idea that midstream actors in the food value chain (e.g., processors, distributors, wholesalers, retailers) have an important role to play in getting use to SHE diets, and we have a cool infographic to go along with that idea. The editor, Bianca Lopez, summarizes our work as follows (the emphasis is mine)
Our current food systems are major sources of pollution, greenhouse gases, and land-use change while also struggling to provide adequate nutrition equitably to more than 8 billion people. As development and incomes increase, people are shifting their diets toward more meat and processed foods, with negative effects on both human health and the environment. Yang et al. synthesized research on leverage points for more sustainable and healthy dietary transitions. They highlight the outsized role of midstream actors, including manufacturers, retailers, and restaurants, in influencing consumer choice and farmer actions. A combination of research and development, regulation, education, and public assistance could help make healthy and sustainable foods more tasty, available, and affordable.
Of course, any progress on getting to SHE diets will necessary require a better understanding of the black box that is the midstream of agri-food value chains, both from an econometric perspective, but also from a data availability perspective. Both will be the focus of my 2026-2027 sabbatical.