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Throughout the online dialogue, panellists, facilitators, as well as participants shared their insights on how to make nutritious diets more affordable, accessible, and adequate. This provided a powerful opportunity for participants to have a seat at the table and have their voices heard. Given the importance of including a diverse group of stakeholders in the discussion, we broke out into smaller groups for attendees to engage actively with each other and dive deeper in conversations to explore options for transforming food systems. Here are the main findings. The participants first discussed... Read more what the major barriers and corresponding levers were to making healthy diets affordable, accessible and adequate for everyone. 1. There is a lack of consumer knowledge around what constitutes a nutritious diet which presents a major barrier to placing value onto healthy foods. Education around nutrition is required across the value chain, from consumers to farmers. This can connect consumers to the value of food and thus the nutritional quality. 2. Socioeconomic considerations present a further barrier. For many people (3 billion people, 40% of world population), healthy diets remain beyond reach. Perishable and bulky foods (fish, veg) are more costly to produce, store, and transport, vs. starchy staples. Healthy foods are often more expensive, and many consumers do not have the time or resources to research healthy food choices. Participants stressed that the true price of food must be promoted throughout the value chain to provide better prices for farmers. In many supply chains, average earnings are far below a living income or wage. Women are by far the furthest from a living income/wage. Additionally, a lack of gender empowerment, inequality, and a gender pay gap in all countries present a major barrier. Woman and underrepresented pupils need to be put at the forefront of discussions. Small-scale farmers, food workers and their communities should have greater influence over food value chains and receive a fair share of value. 3. While some consumers simply cannot afford more healthy options, other choose not to. This is furthered by the marketing and attractive packaging of unhealthy products. Companies can align nutrition commitments with commercial policies and portfolio management. For example, by making healthy varieties their main/star products. Healthy products should not be premium but the norm. 4. Supply chain actors have a role to play as well. There is a need for more appropriate farming knowledge as basic research in agriculture remains rooted in old paradigms. Supply and distribution inefficiencies can lead to food waste, which is felt keenly in poorer populations. Further development of sustainable packaging can tackle food waste and reduce environmental impact. Sector-wide KPIs would give stakeholders a sense of direction and performance, incentivising business to prioritise bringing the consumer healthy and nutritious food. 5. Participants also delved further into political, local and cultural considerations. One size does not fit all and it is important to take into account local and regional differences. Each will have a different starting point and there is a need to understand local barriers, habits and cultures better. The role of cultural and religious practices needs to be taken into account and differs with each local context. Policies should stimulate local innovation, solutions, sourcing, entrepreneurship. Market led nutrition and the understanding of local consumers are important to provide relevant solutions. There is a need for cooperation between all actors and stakeholders, from smallholder farmers to those working with the public and consumers in ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all and collectively move towards the 2030 SDGs. • Policymakers must take into account local and regional differences. Local barriers, habits, cultures and religious practices must be considered when legislating. • Government must lead and frame appropriate policies, ensuring that incentives are aligned, improving education and acting for cities and rural areas. • The private sector has a key role to play in proving access to information for consumers, and should not wait for regulations. • Academics must research trade-offs, food environments and consumer behaviour change, and universities should build on community engagement to bring academic expertise to programs. • In consumer engagement initiatives, it is important to include those who are directly affected by nutrition deficiencies, and who may not have a seat at the table: e.g. consumers in low-income countries and the Global South. Read less

Major focus The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has described the right to food as: “The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.” Yet many people are left behind with no adequate access to food. Approximately 840 million go to bed hungry and an estimated 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy nutritious diet. With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, livelihoods have been compromised and affordability of... Read more healthy, nutritious diets is likely to become an even bigger issue as prior to the crisis. This and the UN FSS roadmap were the backdrop of the recent invitation-only stakeholder dialogue jointly organized by Tufts University and Nestlé on October 1st 2021. In total, 57 external participants from academia, NGOs, private sector, and UN leading organizations convened together. Setting the scene for the discussion were Prof. Eileen Kennedy, former dean and current professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and Prof. Stefan Palzer, CTO at Nestlé. Systemic and local considerations Key speakers stressed that there is an imperative need for an evidence-based approach to policy and program development and implementation. They emphasized that these types of dialogues are important in making this happen and to focus on three key areas: (1) ‘what works?’: how do we prioritize the solutions and commitments set forward by the UN FSS dialogues in the short to medium term?; (2) ‘under what context?’: solutions need to take the local context into consideration to take decisions and the related tradeoffs; (3) ‘at what cost?’. Creative solutions to complex problems There is a need for a systems approach and a wide range of solutions to tackle this complex issue. This should include education of consumers, farmers and other actors. There is also a need to invest in technology which should include packaging and delivery, to avoid nutrient and food losses. Creativity, passion and pragmatism are integral in making this happen. Read less

Healthy foods are often perceived as expensive and less tasty. However, with food innovation and the chef’s culinary skills, healthy food can be nutritious yet tasty. Typically, 30% to 40% of the total cost is derived from the raw materials (ingredients). By going directly to the farms and manufacturers, food operators can potentially keep the cost of these ‘healthy’ ingredients within their budget. Alternatively, food operators can collaborate with manufacturers to ensure that the dish remains affordable to the consumers. It is worth to note that we should avoid riding on food fads and ... Read moreproducts with health claims that is are not proven. As consumers have different perception on the word ‘healthy’, it is crucial that education must be conducted to impart the nutritional knowledge to the general population. This can be done through a multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration. They can, and should, start from the younger generation, such as students. By collaborating with schools to offer talks, curriculum and redesigning of school canteen menus to inculcate this practice into a habit. Most importantly, actions must be put into practice on a long-term basis. As for the lower income group, they may not be willing to purchase premium food items which are perceived to be nutritious. Manufacturers and operators can build an item/dish using a more affordable raw material(s), yet meets the nutrients required by the body. While there is a difference between what the consumer wants (taste and affordability) as compared to the food operators’ (profit), the latter needs to understand that overemphasis on profitability might not be sustainable in the long run. Rather, doing good to the consumers and being customer-centric, is the key to ensure that the business remains sustainable. The challenge is to determine what the consumers want before they even know it themselves. In addition, food items must be packed in a manner that is acceptable to the consumers, both visually and affordability. Read less

The nutrients of concerns (negative nutrients) such as calories, sugar, salt, fats, cholesterol has been a problem in Malaysia for more than 30 years. Although we need to pay attention to these nutrients, it does not mean that they are to be omitted completely. Instead, individuals can still consume them in moderation. However, the responsibility lies beyond the consumers, but also to food operators and manufacturers. An option to manage the nutrients consumed is through the portion size. Food manufacturers has been working on reducing these “negative nutrients” such sugar and salt content... Read more while not compromising on the taste. Food manufacturers should avoid advertising to young children in attempt to increase their consumption. Instead, they should ensure that food items are within the WHO’s dietary recommendation for both the children and adults. They can also explore the fortification of 'positive nutrients' into food items. More attention should be placed on consuming these nutrients, such as dietary fibre, which can be found in fruits, wholegrains, etc. As consumers are selective in their food, countries with an abundance of fruits and vegetables may not equate to a healthy nation. For instance, anemia remains to be a major problem in Malaysia. Having a balanced diet is crucial and more education needs to be done on the topic of food. Understanding the different nutrients can better help individuals attain their goal being healthy, in a sustainable manner. Government regulations and product labelling can be introduced to help individuals make better choices. Food operators and manufacturers have the responsibility to be transparent and provide the nutritional information for the consumers. Read less

From the Nutrition Society’s point of view, dietary pattern of the Malaysians have changed through the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many have seen the negative change in dietary pattern, there are also positive changes in some of the Malaysians’ diet. For instance, there is a growing awareness on the importance of nutrition such as consuming more nutritious food to build the immunity system against the external viruses. Some changes in behaviors include preparing meals at home, purchasing healthier food and increase the consumption of fruits of vegetables. However, there are also a group of... Read more people who has the knowledge of healthy eating yet choose not to practice it. They tend to prefer staying sedentary, have a high reliance on delivery platform and is often snacking. Lastly, the low-income families may have suffered the most during the pandemic. Jobs were lost and food, in general, no longer seemed to be within reach. From the Food Manufacturer’s point of view, the pandemic has caused an acceleration in areas such as health and nutrition where there are an increasing number of consumers that pays attention to the back-of-pack information such as the ingredients. This group of consumers tend to purchase only food which contains ingredients that they recognize. In general, there is a greater understanding on the ‘nutrients of concern’ and ‘nutrients of interest’. Consumers should be educated with the knowledge to read the nutritional labels to know what they are consuming as it makes an impact to their health. From the food operator’s point of view, the past 1.5 years has been an extremely favorable year for food deliveries companies, especially due to the pandemic. Apart from convenience, food deliveries solved the problem for individuals who cannot cook. As a food operator, the major consideration is to ensure that the food taste good while ensuring it is nutritious. Food operators should look for innovative food solutions and the scalability of production for healthy and nutritious ingredients so that there can be a balance between meeting business goals and making a positive impact to the people and environment. Read less

Improving the individuals’ nutrition has been highlighted globally and is one of the keys to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (Good health and well-being). Obesity has become a common issue in Malaysia where 50% of the adults and more than 15% of the children are either overweight or obese. Moreover, one in five Malaysians are diabetic and three in ten are suffering from hypertension. This is highly correlated to the consumption behavior. For instance, 95% of the Malaysian adults are not consuming enough fruits and vegetables and 80% of them are also exceeding the sodium intake da... Read moreily. Of course, the sugar that was consumed was also beyond what is recommended by the WHO. The focus of this independent dialogue seeks to understand the term 'positive nutrition' and the key approaches that different stakeholders in the food chain can do to incorporate the valuable nutrients into the consumers’ diet. (Action Track 1) Read less

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The Dialogue concluded that due diligence can be an efficient tool to achieve sustainable supply chains and reduce trade-offs between agriculture and forests, when implemented correctly. Country experiences, and the lessons shared by other invitees demonstrated that Government’s support is critical to boost initiatives undertaken by the private sector, in order to achieve deforestation-free supply chains. Setting up tools that facilitate stakeholder engagement and dialogue among all the participants of the value chain, from producers to industrials and traders, and including the civil societ... Read morey and public authorities, can be a key for success. Special efforts should also be made to spread technologies to improve traceability and national forest information systems, but also improve the development of platforms to facilitate information exchange. Regarding the possibility of regulatory frameworks making due diligence compulsory, participants stressed that legislation should apply to all players along the value chain to ensure sufficient traceability and transparency. Progress has already been realized in some countries, supply chains and existing systems, which demonstrates why products that are not linked to deforestation should be acknowledged by new regulations. The Dialogue also insisted on the importance of fixing practical aspects like definitions of monitoring and reporting methods (harmonized indicators and criteria for disclosure) to ensure policy effectiveness in halting deforestation. It concluded on the possibility to build upon the numerous existing initiatives, highlighting the urgent need to support small and medium producers and market participants to integrate the dynamics of responsible business conduct favorable to forests. Read less

The Dialogue examined how due diligence processes in the agricultural sector can help to reduce risks of deforestation and other related adverse impacts on people and forests. This focus corresponds particularly with Action Track 3 of the Food Systems Summit – Boost Nature-Positive Production. It was driven by three expected outcomes: provide an overview of existing guidance for private sector due diligence in agriculture and emerging legislative requirements in consumer countries to ensure responsible business conduct/due diligence in agricultural supply chains as they relate to forests and... Read more climate change; share experiences and lessons learned from producer countries’ experiences improving due diligence and traceability in the agriculture and forestry sectors; identify needs for technical support to actors in producer countries to effectively respond to emerging measures and strategically attract responsible investment. Read less

During the dialogue all stakeholders agreed that consumers need to be involved and listened to throughout this process of transforming the food system. Younger generations that are more value driven and that will be most impacted by the change must be enabled and empowered to build solutions. Yet, participants also acknowledged that many consumers are not in a position to make the right choices. Thus, to what degree can consumers really drive this transformation? To what extent should regulatory bodies and food manufactures be driving this transformation by influencing consumer behavior? To ad... Read moredress the global food system challenges, food should be simultaneously nutritious and healthy, tasteful, sustainable, affordable and adapted to the local context. However, it is likely that new innovations will not be able to solve all these constraints at once. So, the question is which innovations should be prioritized? Participants had some diverging views on this, and the consensus reached was that we need to act on all fronts at the same time. Read less

Plant-based diets While many things need to change for consumers to shift their dietary patterns to healthier and more sustainable diets, an element that should never be compromised is taste: food must be tasty or it will not be accepted. Expanding the supply of nutritious plant-based products and diversifying protein sources were mentioned as strategies to improve the health of people and the planet. Several elements must change to achieve the shift in consumer attitudes and habits towards plant-based diets: 1) a wide range of choices with diverse protein sources, 2) better and transparent co... Read moremmunication from producers and government to consumers and 3) plant-based alternatives must achieve price parity with meat. To do this, food producers should take responsibility for producing nutritionally high-quality products with a focus on increasing protein sources diversity. In addition, greater cooperation, and co-creation is needed across the value chain from farm to fork to understand the barriers that prevent farmers from producing plant-based proteins and for plant-based diets to become mainstream among consumers. Government support as well as an overall enabling environment are key to helping to address some of these barriers. In fact, some of the negative perception of plant-based alternative to animal-based products related to processing could be diminished with better communication, transparency, and education. All these changes must be culturally accepted and seen in cultural context. Solutions need to be tailored to local culture, context, taste, feasibility, and affordability (particularly in developing countries). Innovation that allows for greater food personalization could be game-changing. Read less

Climate action, responsible consumption and production In today’s world there is so much that needs to be considered when grocery shopping: is the product nutritious and healthy? Is it sustainable? Consumers need to have the right information to make the right choices. An efficient way of doing so is through index scores which capture several basic indicators in a simple and easy to understand measure – examples include “Nutri-score” and “Eco-score”. Yet, how to define the optimal criteria remains an open question. As things currently stand, the easiest and best way to have a posit... Read moreive impact on climate change through their food consumption is 1) for consumers to shifting away from meat-based diets in high income countries with excessive consumption; and 2) for producers to better utilize crops by-products. For instance, 1 kg of coffee yields 2-3 kg of coffee pulp which is currently being wasted. Nonetheless, an assessment at the local level needs to be carried out to validate that by-products use does not lead to negative environmental impacts and/or downstream cultural changes. Read less

Industry, infrastructure, and innovation To kick-start the food system transform we need 1) a holistic and transparent assessment of the costs and value added across each step of the food supply chain. This includes the quantification of “hidden” environmental, sustainability and social aspects. This assessment will be critical to identifying the priority areas for the food system transformation. Then, 2) identify appropriate solutions taking a comprehensive approach since big impact can only be achieved with scale. Innovators will need to assess the food system through various lenses, inc... Read moreluding people who do not have access to sufficient and nutritious food when identifying these global solutions. Yet 3) we need to acknowledge that the implementation of identified solutions will differ depending on the local context. For example, while consumers in the developed world can pay more, those in developing countries cannot and “hidden” costs may need to be absorbed into the food supply chain. The ecosystem in Switzerland is broad - start-ups, academia, food retailers, technology, pharma - and has the capabilities to develop innovative solutions to the challenges faced by the food system. Greater collaboration on concrete projects among these actors is needed. The Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley can be “the glue” of this ecosystem but support from the government is critical, too. Read less

Good health and wellbeing The first element that is needed is more scientific knowledge on healthy diets. We do not know enough about what defines and characterizes a healthy diet or what it means to stay healthy. We need to 1) build and leverage innovative tools to measure health and healthy diets at a personal level (methodologies, metrics, biomarkers…); 2) invest in longer term impact science; and 3) broader more efficient consumer education and communication around food to drive behaviors towards healthy and sustainable diets. “Food education” should be broad in scope and encompass n... Read moreutrition, cooking, and sensory testing – an idea in this respect would be integrating nutrition and cooking classes in school curricula. We need innovative communication methods to translate complex science and biology in a way that is easily understood by the average consumer and in a way that encourages consumer’s engagement and interest. The consumer should be involved or even co-create these activities. Overall, as mentioned above, in order to achieve sustainable and healthy diets in 2030, all stakeholders need to play a role: consumers, industry, healthcare community, regulatory agencies… It’s about being consumer driven and consumer driving at the same time. Read less

Nutrition and affordability We need to 1) move away from increasing food quantity to increasing the quantity of quality food (avoiding excess of high sugar, salt or fat and adding more positive ingredients, e.g. micronutrients or fiber) according to Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and 2) further broaden the offer of nutritious plant-based products to divert from animal-based products (especially in high income countries). A big challenge is the difference in nutritional gaps between Low- and Middle-Income Countries versus High Income Countries. Part of the solution to close the gap is to improve... Read more Low- and Middle-Income Countries through partnerships in capacity building programs such as the Africa Leadership Initiative that foster collaboration and knowledge sharing across countries and stakeholder groups (business, government, academia and civil society). Read less

The Food System requires a transformation towards healthier diets for people produced in a way that maintains and replenishes natural resources. The scale and urgency of transformation needed requires everyone to join and play an active role: no individual or company is too small or too big to contribute to this transformation. A system approach with innovation at its core is needed. Yet, as the world looks for solutions, there are still many elements that need to be better understood in order to achieve an effective collaboration and co-creation across the value chain from fork to farm. - Wha... Read moret is a food system? Many people talk about it but not many understand all its complexities which must include the economic and cultural aspects of scalable solutions. -What is a sustainable healthy diet? We do need to consider all dimensions: nutrition and health, economical dimension (affordability), social and cultural components (taste, pleasure, experience), and environmental sustainability. -What is the true cost of food? A holistic assessment of our food system, including environmental and social externalities, is necessary to understand where along the value chain lies the biggest potential for innovation / transformation. It would constitute a roadmap for food system transformation to be implemented considering the local context. An additional, complementary angle is to think at what concretely needs to change so that we will be producing and consuming sustainable and healthy diets in 2030. -We need product level innovation that considers the multiple characteristics of food: nutrition and health, taste, sustainability, and affordability. Food producers need to develop nutritionally high-quality products without compromising on taste and increasing diversity, particularly in terms of protein sources. -Consumers need to shift towards healthy, nutritious, and plant-based diets. This requires consumer education and the earlier we learn the better: nutrition and cooking classes should be part of school curricula while consumer communication should be clearer and more compelling. Translating complex science and biology in a way that the layman can understand it and is willing to listen to, linking it to trendy topics or lifestyles such as yoga… -New personalized tools to measure and assess health and healthy diets (which would include new methodologies, metrics, biomarkers…) should also be part of the solution. -The young generation needs to be enabled and empowered to bring their own ideas and build solutions. -Globalization and de-globalization are happening in parallel. Innovations need to be relevant, affordable, and adaptable to the local context without creating new environmental impacts downstream or cultural shifts. Stakeholders should take a medium to long term view when assessing the feasibility of innovations. Local sourcing, reducing food losses or food upcycling are promising strategies. We can’t just wait for consumers, farmers or producers to change, we have to start changing all together. The food system transformation needs to be consumer driven and driving consumers at the same time. As we move this agenda forward, we should not forget how crucial it is to enable and empower the young generation to be part of building solutions. One challenge is that younger generations in many parts of the world do not want to develop their careers in agriculture. Today’s young people believe that agriculture is a sector filled with outdated approaches, led by older generations and little future prospects. Agriculture as a sector needs a new culture that appeals to the mindset and ways of working of the next generations. How can we make the agricultural sector open and accessible, collaborative, entrepreneurial, purposeful, and impactful as well as community-oriented? Read less

The dialogue theme was ‘Innovation for Food System Transformation’. The discussion examined what needs to change so that we are producing and consuming sustainable and healthy diets by 2030 with relevance to the Swiss and global context. As well as how innovation can help to achieve these changes. In fact, the role of innovation is critical and will only rise in importance with the onset of climate change.

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