Repository: Definitions of “food system”

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• “The food system is a complex web of activities involving the production, processing, transport, and consumption. Issues concerning the food system include the governance and economics of food production, its sustainability, the degree to which we waste food, how food production affects the natural environment and the impact of food on individual and population health.”
  Future of Food, Oxford University, https://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/what-food-system
• “Agriculture and food systems are the intact or whole unit made up of interrelated components of people, behaviors, relationships, and material goods that interact in the production, processing, packaging, transporting, trade, marketing, consumption, and use of food, feed, and fiber through aquaculture, farming, wild fisheries, forestry, and pastoralism. The food and agriculture system operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic, and environmental contexts.”
  US Global Food Security Strategy, https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/Global-Food-Security-Strategy_2017-2021.pdf
• “Everything from farm to table.”
  USDA’s National Agricultural Library
• “A food system is a complex network of activities, processes, and actors involved in the production, distribution, consumption, and waste management of food. It encompasses all the steps and interactions from the cultivation or harvesting of crops and animals to the consumption of food by individuals or communities. This includes agricultural production, processing, packaging, transportation, marketing, retailing, and food service. Additionally, it involves aspects such as food safety, food security, nutrition, sustainability, and socio-economic dynamics. Food systems can vary greatly depending on geographic, cultural, and economic factors, and they play a crucial role in determining food availability, accessibility, and quality for populations worldwide.”
  Jad G. Peety
• “The term ‘food system’ describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution, and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps. Food systems fall within agri-food systems, which encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal, and consumption.”
  The State of Food and Agriculture 2021. Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks and stresses, In brief. Rome: FAO. 2021
• “Food systems are the public policy decisions; the national and global systems and supply chains; and the individuals and groups – public and private – that influence what we eat.”
  UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/stories/food-systems, accessed 13.03.2024
• “The term ‘food systems’ refers to all the elements and activities related to producing and consuming food, and their effects, including economic, health, and environmental outcomes.”
  OECD, https://www.oecd.org/food-systems/
• “Food systems are the sum of actors and interactions along the food value chain—from input supply and production of crops, livestock, fish, and other agricultural commodities to transportation, processing, retailing, wholesaling, and preparation of foods to consumption and disposal. Food systems also include the enabling policy environments and cultural norms around food. Ideal food systems would be nutrition-, health-, and safety-driven, productive and efficient (and thus able to deliver affordable food), environmentally sustainable and climate-smart, and inclusive. To realize this vision, continued investments must be made in agricultural research and development and technological innovations, paving the way for programmes and policies that are based on sound evidence.”
  International Food Policy Research Instiute IFPRI. https://www.ifpri.org/topic/food-systems
• “The food system spans the activities, people, and resources involved in getting food from field to plate, from agriculture through nutrition and beyond. Along the way, it intersects with aspects of public health, culture, society, policy, and the environment.”
  John Hopkins University, Centre for a Livable Future, https://www.foodsystemprimer.org