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State-level policies alone are insufficient to meet the federal food waste reduction goal in the United States

The United States Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal seeks to reduce national food waste by 50%, down to 74 kg per capita, by 2030. Here we investigate state policies’ alignment with the federal goal across four policy categories. We develop a policy scoring matrix and apply it to wasted food solutions listed in the non-profit ReFED’s database to derive ranges of food waste diversion potential and projected generation across states. On the basis of state policies alone, no state can meet the federal target. We estimated a diversion potential of 5–14 kg per capita and a food waste generation of 149 kg per capita nationally in 2022, equivalent to the 2016 baseline. Without additional intervention at the state and federal level promoting a shift from food waste recycling towards prevention, rescue and repurposing, food generation in the United States will probably remain high.

Global food retail environments are increasingly dominated by large chains and linked to the rising prevalence of obesity

Retail food environments influence food purchasing and dietary patterns. A global analysis of the food retail landscape allowing comparisons across geographical regions is therefore needed to tackle diet-related non-communicable diseases. Here we examine trends in retail food environments from 2009 to 2023 across 97 countries, exploring associations with changes in obesity prevalence. Increases were observed in the density of chain outlets, grocery sales from chain retailers, unhealthy food sales per capita and digital grocery sales; non-chain outlet density and the ratio of non-chain to chain outlets declined over time. South Asia and low- and middle-income countries overall experienced the most rapid transformation. Changes in retail environments and the prevalence of obesity were found to be positively correlated. As retail environments become increasingly digital and dominated by large chains, important implications for diets and health should be expected, particularly in lower-income countries.

Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030

Due to complex interactions, changes in any one area of food systems are likely to impact—and possibly depend on—changes in other areas. Here we present the first annual monitoring update of the indicator framework proposed by the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, with new qualitative analysis elucidating interactions across indicators. Since 2000, we find that 20 of 42 indicators with time series have been trending in a desirable direction, indicating modest positive change. Qualitative expert elicitation assessed governance and resilience indicators to be most connected to other indicators across themes, highlighting entry points for action—particularly governance action. Literature review and country case studies add context to the assessed interactions across diets, environment, livelihoods, governance and resilience indicators, helping different actors understand and navigate food systems towards desirable change.

Plastics matter in the food system

Agriculture and food systems are major sources of plastic pollution but they are also vulnerable to their diverse lifecycle impacts. However, this problem is not well-recognized in global policy and scientific discourse, agendas, and monitoring of food systems. The United Nations-led Global Plastics Treaty, which has been under negotiation since 2022, is a critical opportunity to address pollution across the entire plastics lifecycle for more sustainable and resilient food systems. Here, we offer aspirational indicators for future monitoring of food systems’ plastics related to (1) plastic polymers and chemicals, (2) land use, (3) trade and waste, and (4) environmental and human health. We call for interdisciplinary research collaborations to continue improving and harmonising the evidence base necessary to track and trace plastics and plastic chemicals in food systems. We also highlight the need for collaboration across disciplines and sectors to tackle this urgent challenge for biodiversity, climate change, food security and nutrition, health and human rights at a whole systems level.

Historical loss weakens competitive behavior by remodeling ventral hippocampal dynamics

Competitive interactions are pervasive within biological populations, where individuals engage in fierce disputes over vital resources for survival. Before the establishment of a social hierarchy within the population, this competition becomes even more intense. Historical experiences of competition significantly influence the competitive performance; individuals with a history of persistent loss are less likely to initiate attacks or win escalated contests. However, it remains unclear how historical loss directly affects the evolution of mental processes during competition and alters responses to ongoing competitive events. Here, we utilized a naturalistic food competition paradigm to track the competitive patterns of mutually unfamiliar competitors and found that a history of loss leads to reduced competitive performance. By tracking the activity of ventral hippocampal neuron ensembles, we identified clusters of neurons that responded differently to behavioral events during the competition, with their reactivity modulated by previous losses. Using a Recurrent Switch Linear Dynamical System (rSLDS), we revealed rotational dynamics in the ventral hippocampus (vHPC) during food competition, where different discrete internal states corresponded to different behavioral strategies. Moreover, historical loss modulates competitive behavior by remodeling the characteristic attributes of this rotational dynamic system. Finally, we found that an evolutionarily conserved glutamate receptor-associated protein, glutamate receptor-associated protein 1 (Grina), plays an important role in this process. By continuously monitoring the association between the attributes of the dynamic system and competitiveness, we found that restoring Grina expression effectively reversed the impact of historical loss on competitive performance. Together, our study reveals the rotational dynamics in the ventral hippocampus during competition and elucidates the underlying mechanisms through which historical loss shapes these processes.

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