TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine TI - Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds in the Food Supply: Strategies to Decrease Exposure SN - DO - 10.17226/10763 PY - 2003 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10763/dioxins-and-dioxin-like-compounds-in-the-food-supply-strategies PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, or DLCs, are found throughout the environment, in soil, water, and air. People are exposed to these unintentional environmental contaminants primarily through the food supply, although at low levels, particularly by eating animal fat in meat, dairy products, and fish. While the amount of DLCs in the environment has declined since the late 1970s, the public continues to be concerned about the safety of the food supply and the potential adverse health effects of DLC exposure, especially in groups such as developing fetuses and infants, who are more sensitive to the toxic effects of these compounds. Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds in the Food Supply: Strategies to Decrease Exposure, recommends policy options to reduce exposure to these contaminants while considering how implementing these options could both reduce health risks and affect nutrition, particularly in sensitive and highly exposed groups, if dietary changes are suggested. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Eileen R. Choffnes A2 - David A. Relman A2 - LeighAnne Olsen A2 - Rebekah Hutton A2 - Alison Mack TI - Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/13423 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13423/improving-food-safety-through-a-one-health-approach-workshop-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Health and Medicine AB - Globalization of the food supply has created conditions favorable for the emergence, reemergence, and spread of food-borne pathogens-compounding the challenge of anticipating, detecting, and effectively responding to food-borne threats to health. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. This figure likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, because it fails to account for the broad array of food-borne illnesses or for their wide-ranging repercussions for consumers, government, and the food industry-both domestically and internationally. A One Health approach to food safety may hold the promise of harnessing and integrating the expertise and resources from across the spectrum of multiple health domains including the human and veterinary medical and plant pathology communities with those of the wildlife and aquatic health and ecology communities. The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop on December 13 and 14, 2011 that examined issues critical to the protection of the nation's food supply. The workshop explored existing knowledge and unanswered questions on the nature and extent of food-borne threats to health. Participants discussed the globalization of the U.S. food supply and the burden of illness associated with foodborne threats to health; considered the spectrum of food-borne threats as well as illustrative case studies; reviewed existing research, policies, and practices to prevent and mitigate foodborne threats; and, identified opportunities to reduce future threats to the nation's food supply through the use of a "One Health" approach to food safety. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary covers the events of the workshop and explains the recommendations for future related workshops. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Leslie Pray A2 - Laura Pillsbury TI - Leveraging Food Technology for Obesity Prevention and Reduction Efforts: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/13153 PY - 2011 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13153/leveraging-food-technology-for-obesity-prevention-and-reduction-efforts-workshop PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition AB - Obesity is a major public health challenge. More than one-third of the U.S. adult population is considered obese, a figure that has more than doubled since the mid-1970s. Among children, obesity rates have more than tripled over the same period. Not only is obesity associated with numerous medical complications, but it incurs significant economic cost. At its simplest, obesity is a result of an energy imbalance, with obese (and overweight) people consuming more energy (calories) than they are expending. During the last 10-20 years, behavioral scientists have made significant progress toward building an evidence base for understanding what drives energy imbalance in overweight and obese individuals. Meanwhile, food scientists have been tapping into this growing evidence base to improve existing technologies and create new technologies that can be applied to alter the food supply in ways that reduce the obesity burden on the American population. Leveraging Food Technology for Obesity Prevention and Reduction Effort examines the complexity of human eating behavior and explores ways in which the food industry can continue to leverage modern food processing technologies to influence energy intake. The report also examines the opportunities and challenges of altering the food supply--both at home and outside the home--and outlines lessons learned, best practices, and next steps. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Arctic Matters: The Global Connection to Changes in the Arctic DO - 10.17226/21717 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21717/arctic-matters-the-global-connection-to-changes-in-the-arctic PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Viewed in satellite images as a jagged white coat draped over the top of the globe, the high Arctic appears distant and isolated. But even if you don't live there, don't do business there, and will never travel there, you are closer to the Arctic than you think. Arctic Matters: The Global Connection to Changes in the Arctic is a new educational resource produced by the Polar Research Board of the National Research Council (NRC). It draws upon a large collection of peer-reviewed NRC reports and other national and international reports to provide a brief, reader-friendly primer on the complex ways in which the changes currently affecting the Arctic and its diverse people, resources, and environment can, in turn, affect the entire globe. Topics in the booklet include how climate changes currently underway in the Arctic are a driver for global sea-level rise, offer new prospects for natural resource extraction, and have rippling effects through the world's weather, climate, food supply and economy. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine TI - Addressing Foodborne Threats to Health: Policies, Practices, and Global Coordination: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/11745 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11745/addressing-foodborne-threats-to-health-policies-practices-and-global-coordination PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition AB - In December 2004, at a press conference called to announce his departure as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tommy Thompson raised both concern and controversy when he remarked that he could not understand why the terrorists had not yet attacked our food supply "because it is so easy to do." Although to date the United States has been spared such a disaster, the many documented examples of unintentional outbreaks of foodborne disease—some of which have sickened hundreds of thousands of people, and killed hundreds—provide a grim basis for estimating the impact of deliberate food adulteration. Due to the wide variety of potential chemical and biological agents that could be introduced at many vulnerable points along the food supply continuum, contaminating food is considered an especially simple, yet effective, means to threaten large populations. To explore the nature and extent of such threats, possibilities for reducing their impact, and obstacles to this goal, the Forum on Microbial Threats of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened the workshop Foodborne Threats to Health: The Policies and Practice of Surveillance, Prevention, Outbreak Investigations, and International Coordination on October 25 and 26, 2005. Workshop participants discussed the threat spectrum and burden of disease associated with foodborne illness and the role that increasing globalization of food production and distribution plays in the transmission of foodborne disease. Participants also reviewed existing research, policies, and practices concerning foodborne threats in order to identify unmet needs, challenges, and opportunities for improving food safety systems, surveillance, and emergency response. Although this workshop summary provides an account of the individual presentations, it also reflects an important aspect of the Forum philosophy. The workshop functions as a dialogue among representatives from different sectors and presents their beliefs on which areas may merit further attention. However, the reader should be aware that the material presented here expresses the views and opinions of the individuals participating in the workshop and not the deliberations of a formally constituted IOM study committee. These proceedings summarize only what participants stated in the workshop and are not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of the subject matter or a representation of consensus evaluation. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Tina I. Rouse A2 - Debra P. Davis TI - Exploring a Vision: Integrating Knowledge for Food and Health SN - DO - 10.17226/10936 PY - 2004 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10936/exploring-a-vision-integrating-knowledge-for-food-and-health PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition AB - Centuries of scientific advances in agriculture have increased the quantity, quality, and variety of our food supply. Food in the United States is abundant and affordable, incomes are at record levels, nutrition and health knowledge is at an all-time high. Yet many Americans are not eating a proper diet. The result is an obesity epidemic that contributes to rising healthcare costs from increased rates of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and several cancers. Whether we see food as medicine or as the cause of disease, medical and agricultural research have the potential to come together in innovative ways to help consumers and producers understand and face the challenges of following a healthful diet. More than 100 leaders in agriculture, health research, education policy, and industry convened at the National Academies in June 2003 to share their opinions on what would be a more efficient and effective system for conducting food and health research. Some of their thoughts follow. Participants concluded that no one organization or agency can solve food-related health issues alone-- the nation needs better mechanisms for bringing together its agriculture and health-care infrastructures to address food-related health problems. Addressing the obesity issue, in particular, will require a multidisciplinary strategy that includes research on foods, consumer knowledge and behavior, and the economics of food- and health-related activities, including food pricing, health-care costs, and agricultural support programs. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Leslie Pray TI - Sustainable Diets: Food for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/18578 PY - 2014 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18578/sustainable-diets-food-for-healthy-people-and-a-healthy-planet PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Health and Medicine AB - One of the many benefits of the U.S. food system is a safe, nutritious, and consistent food supply. However, the same system also places significant strain on land, water, air, and other natural resources. A better understanding of the food-environment synergies and trade-offs associated with the U.S. food system would help to reduce this strain. Many experts would like to use that knowledge to develop dietary recommendations on the basis of environmental as well as nutritional considerations. But identifying and quantifying those synergies and trade-offs, let alone acting on them, is a challenge in and of itself. The difficulty stems in part from the reality that experts in the fields of nutrition, agricultural science, and natural resource use often do not regularly collaborate with each other, with the exception of some international efforts. Sustainable Diets is the summary of a workshop convened by The Institute of Medicine's Food Forum and Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine in May 2013 to engender dialogue between experts in nutrition and experts in agriculture and natural resource sustainability and to explore current and emerging knowledge on the food and nutrition policy implications of the increasing environmental constraints on the food system. Experts explored the relationship between human health and the environment, including the identification and quantification of the synergies and trade-offs of their impact. This report explores the role of the food price environment and how environmental sustainability can be incorporated into dietary guidance and considers research priorities, policy implications, and drivers of consumer behaviors that will enable sustainable food choices. ER - TY - BOOK TI - PY - UR - PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Meeting Critical Laboratory Needs for Animal Agriculture: Examination of Three Options SN - DO - 10.17226/13454 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13454/meeting-critical-laboratory-needs-for-animal-agriculture-examination-of-three PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Agriculture KW - Biology and Life Sciences AB - Outbreaks of animal disease can have catastrophic repercussions for animal agriculture, the food supply, and public health. Rapid detection, diagnosis and response, as well as development of new vaccines, are central to mitigating the impact of disease outbreaks. The proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) is a next-generation laboratory for animal disease diagnostics, training, and research that would provide core critical components for defense against foreign animal and zoonotic disease threats. But it will be a major investment with estimated construction costs of $1.14 billion, as currently designed. Meeting Critical Laboratory Needs for Animal Agriculture: Examination of Three Optionsdiscusses the laboratory infrastructure needed to effectively address the threat posed by animal and zoonotic diseases and analyzes three options for creating this infrastructure: building NBAF as currently designed, building a scaled-back version of the NBAF, or maintaining current research capabilities at Plum Island Animal Disease Center while leveraging biosafety level-4 large animal capabilities at foreign laboratories. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Leslie Pray A2 - Laura Pillsbury A2 - Emily Tomayko TI - The Human Microbiome, Diet, and Health: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/13522 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13522/the-human-microbiome-diet-and-health-workshop-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition AB - The Food Forum convened a public workshop on February 22-23, 2012, to explore current and emerging knowledge of the human microbiome, its role in human health, its interaction with the diet, and the translation of new research findings into tools and products that improve the nutritional quality of the food supply. The Human Microbiome, Diet, and Health: Workshop Summary summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop. Over the two day workshop, several themes covered included: The microbiome is integral to human physiology, health, and disease. The microbiome is arguably the most intimate connection that humans have with their external environment, mostly through diet. Given the emerging nature of research on the microbiome, some important methodology issues might still have to be resolved with respect to undersampling and a lack of causal and mechanistic studies. Dietary interventions intended to have an impact on host biology via their impact on the microbiome are being developed, and the market for these products is seeing tremendous success. However, the current regulatory framework poses challenges to industry interest and investment. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Catherine L. Kling A2 - Christopher Mackie TI - Improving Data Collection and Measurement of Complex Farms SN - DO - 10.17226/25260 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25260/improving-data-collection-and-measurement-of-complex-farms PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Agriculture AB - America’s farms and farmers are integral to the U.S. economy and, more broadly, to the nation’s social and cultural fabric. A healthy agricultural sector helps ensure a safe and reliable food supply, improves energy security, and contributes to employment and economic development, traditionally in small towns and rural areas where farming serves as a nexus for related sectors from farm machinery manufacturing to food processing. The agricultural sector also plays a role in the nation’s overall economic growth by providing crucial raw inputs for the production of a wide range of goods and services, including many that generate substantial export value. If the agricultural sector is to be accurately understood and the policies that affect its functioning are to remain well informed, the statistical system’s data collection programs must be periodically revisited to ensure they are keeping up with current realities. This report reviews current information and makes recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS) to help identify effective methods for collecting data and reporting information about American agriculture, given increased complexity and other changes in farm business structure in recent decades. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Strengthening Post-Hurricane Supply Chain Resilience: Observations from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria SN - DO - 10.17226/25490 PY - 2020 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25490/strengthening-post-hurricane-supply-chain-resilience-observations-from-hurricanes-harvey PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Earth Sciences AB - Resilient supply chains are crucial to maintaining the consistent delivery of goods and services to the American people. The modern economy has made supply chains more interconnected than ever, while also expanding both their range and fragility. In the third quarter of 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria revealed some significant vulnerabilities in the national and regional supply chains of Texas, Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The broad impacts and quick succession of these three hurricanes also shed light on the effectiveness of the nation's disaster logistics efforts during response through recovery. Drawing on lessons learned during the 2017 hurricanes, this report explores future strategies to improve supply chain management in disaster situations. This report makes recommendations to strengthen the roles of continuity planning, partnerships between civic leaders with small businesses, and infrastructure investment to ensure that essential supply chains will remain operational in the next major disaster. Focusing on the supply chains food, fuel, water, pharmaceutical, and medical supplies, the recommendations of this report will assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as state and local officials, private sector decision makers, civic leaders, and others who can help ensure that supply chains remain robust and resilient in the face of natural disasters. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II: Vegetables SN - DO - 10.17226/11763 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11763/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-ii-vegetables PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Agriculture KW - Biology and Life Sciences AB - This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine SN - DO - 10.17226/13413 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13413/workforce-needs-in-veterinary-medicine PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Agriculture KW - Biology and Life Sciences AB - The U.S. veterinary medical profession contributes to society in diverse ways, from developing drugs and protecting the food supply to treating companion animals and investigating animal diseases in the wild. In a study of the issues related to the veterinary medical workforce, including demographics, workforce supply, trends affecting job availability, and capacity of the educational system to fill future demands, a National Research Council committee found that the profession faces important challenges in maintaining the economic sustainability of veterinary practice and education, building its scholarly foundations, and evolving veterinary service to meet changing societal needs. Many concerns about the profession came into focus following the outbreak of West Nile fever in 1999, and the subsequent outbreaks of SARS, monkeypox, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, highly pathogenic avian influenza, H1N1 influenza, and a variety of food safety and environmental issues heightened public concerns. They also raised further questions about the directions of veterinary medicine and the capacity of public health service the profession provides both in the United States and abroad. To address some of the problems facing the veterinary profession, greater public and private support for education and research in veterinary medicine is needed. The public, policymakers, and even medical professionals are frequently unaware of how veterinary medicine fundamentally supports both animal and human health and well-being. This report seeks to broaden the public's understanding and attempts to anticipate some of the needs and measures that are essential for the profession to fulfill given its changing roles in the 21st century. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council A2 - Leslie Pray A2 - Laura Pillsbury A2 - Maria Oria TI - Exploring Health and Environmental Costs of Food: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/13521 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13521/exploring-health-and-environmental-costs-of-food-workshop-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Agriculture AB - The U.S. food system provides many benefits, not the least of which is a safe, nutritious and consistent food supply. However, the same system also creates significant environmental, public health, and other costs that generally are not recognized and not accounted for in the retail price of food. These include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil erosion, air pollution, and their environmental consequences, the transfer of antibiotic resistance from food animals to human, and other human health outcomes, including foodborne illnesses and chronic disease. Some external costs which are also known as externalities are accounted for in ways that do not involve increasing the price of food. But many are not. They are borne involuntarily by society at large. A better understanding of external costs would help decision makers at all stages of the life cycle to expand the benefits of the U.S. food system even further. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC) with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) convened a public workshop on April 23-23, 2012, to explore the external costs of food, methodologies for quantifying those costs, and the limitations of the methodologies. The workshop was intended to be an information-gathering activity only. Given the complexity of the issues and the broad areas of expertise involved, workshop presentations and discussions represent only a small portion of the current knowledge and are by no means comprehensive. The focus was on the environmental and health impacts of food, using externalities as a basis for discussion and animal products as a case study. The intention was not to quantify costs or benefits, but rather to lay the groundwork for doing so. A major goal of the workshop was to identify information sources and methodologies required to recognize and estimate the costs and benefits of environmental and public health consequences associated with the U.S. food system. It was anticipated that the workshop would provide the basis for a follow-up consensus study of the subject and that a central task of the consensus study will be to develop a framework for a full-scale accounting of the environmental and public health effects for all food products of the U.S. food system. Exploring Health and Environmental Costs of Food: Workshop Summary provides the basis for a follow-up planning discussion involving members of the IOM Food and Nutrition Board and the NRC Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources and others to develop the scope and areas of expertise needed for a larger-scale, consensus study of the subject. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council A2 - Robert B. Wallace A2 - Maria Oria TI - Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration SN - DO - 10.17226/12892 PY - 2010 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12892/enhancing-food-safety-the-role-of-the-food-and-drug PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Health and Medicine AB - Recent outbreaks of illnesses traced to contaminated sprouts and lettuce illustrate the holes that exist in the system for monitoring problems and preventing foodborne diseases. Although it is not solely responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation's food supply, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees monitoring and intervention for 80 percent of the food supply. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's abilities to discover potential threats to food safety and prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness are hampered by impediments to efficient use of its limited resources and a piecemeal approach to gathering and using information on risks. Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration, a new book from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, responds to a congressional request for recommendations on how to close gaps in FDA's food safety systems. Enhancing Food Safety begins with a brief review of the Food Protection Plan (FPP), FDA's food safety philosophy developed in 2007. The lack of sufficient detail and specific strategies in the FPP renders it ineffectual. The book stresses the need for FPP to evolve and be supported by the type of strategic planning described in these pages. It also explores the development and implementation of a stronger, more effective food safety system built on a risk-based approach to food safety management. Conclusions and recommendations include adopting a risk-based decision-making approach to food safety; creating a data surveillance and research infrastructure; integrating federal, state, and local government food safety programs; enhancing efficiency of inspections; and more. Although food safety is the responsibility of everyone, from producers to consumers, the FDA and other regulatory agencies have an essential role. In many instances, the FDA must carry out this responsibility against a backdrop of multiple stakeholder interests, inadequate resources, and competing priorities. Of interest to the food production industry, consumer advocacy groups, health care professionals, and others, Enhancing Food Safety provides the FDA and Congress with a course of action that will enable the agency to become more efficient and effective in carrying out its food safety mission in a rapidly changing world. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Leslie Pray A2 - Ann Yaktine TI - Managing Food Safety Practices from Farm to Table: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/12594 PY - 2009 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12594/managing-food-safety-practices-from-farm-to-table-workshop-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Agriculture AB - Legal regulations and manufacturers' monitoring practices have not been enough to prevent contamination of the national food supply and protect consumers from serious harm. In addressing food safety risks, regulators could perhaps better ensure the quality and safety of food by monitoring food production not just at a single point in production but all along the way, from farm to table. Recognizing the troubled state of food safety, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Food Forum met in Washington, DC, on September 9, 2008, to explore the management of food safety practices from the beginning of the supply chain to the marketplace. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council A2 - Malden C. Nesheim A2 - Maria Oria A2 - Peggy Tsai Yih TI - A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System SN - DO - 10.17226/18846 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18846/a-framework-for-assessing-effects-of-the-food-system PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Agriculture AB - How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality, and the federal budget. From the earliest developments of agriculture, a major goal has been to attain sufficient foods that provide the energy and the nutrients needed for a healthy, active life. Over time, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption have evolved and become highly complex. The challenges of improving the food system in the 21st century will require systemic approaches that take full account of social, economic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Policy or business interventions involving a segment of the food system often have consequences beyond the original issue the intervention was meant to address. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System develops an analytical framework for assessing effects associated with the ways in which food is grown, processed, distributed, marketed, retailed, and consumed in the United States. The framework will allow users to recognize effects across the full food system, consider all domains and dimensions of effects, account for systems dynamics and complexities, and choose appropriate methods for analysis. This report provides example applications of the framework based on complex questions that are currently under debate: consumption of a healthy and safe diet, food security, animal welfare, and preserving the environment and its resources. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System describes the U.S. food system and provides a brief history of its evolution into the current system. This report identifies some of the real and potential implications of the current system in terms of its health, environmental, and socioeconomic effects along with a sense for the complexities of the system, potential metrics, and some of the data needs that are required to assess the effects. The overview of the food system and the framework described in this report will be an essential resource for decision makers, researchers, and others to examine the possible impacts of alternative policies or agricultural or food processing practices. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 SN - DO - 10.17226/25059 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25059/science-breakthroughs-to-advance-food-and-agricultural-research-by-2030 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Agriculture KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030). ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine TI - Proposed Criteria for Selecting the WIC Food Packages: A Preliminary Report of the Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages SN - DO - 10.17226/11078 PY - 2004 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11078/proposed-criteria-for-selecting-the-wic-food-packages-a-preliminary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Food and Nutrition AB - Started in 1974, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was designed to meet the special nutritional needs of low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, or postpartum women; infants; and children up to 5 years of age who have at least one nutritional risk factor. The WIC Program provides three main benefits: supplemental foods, nutrition education, and referrals to health and social services. Since the inception of the WIC program, substantial changes in size and demographics of the population, food supply and dietary patterns, and health concerns have made it necessary to review the WIC food packages. Proposed Criteria for Selecting the WIC Food Packages proposes priority nutrients and general nutrition recommendations for the WIC program, and recommends specific changes to the WIC packages. ER -