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Current food systems fail to provide equity, sustainability, and positive health outcomes, thus underscoring the critical need for their transformation. Intervening in food environments holds substantial promise for contributing to this much-needed transformation. Despite scholars and practitioners often recognizing the necessity for bottom-up approaches, there is a dearth of empirical investigations evaluating the potential of these approaches to contribute to food system transformations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our study aimed to address this research gap, providing a unique perspective in this regard. Drawing on evidence from two co-creation case studies conducted with small-scale informal fruit and vegetable vendors and poor consumers in Vietnam and Nigeria from January 2020 to December 2021, we explored the relevance of bottom-up community-engaged co-creation processes in intervening within LMICs' food retail environments. Employing a mixed-methods approach that includes quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews, participatory workshops, and focus group discussions, we demonstrated that bottom-up co-creation processes involving marginalized socioeconomic groups can generate retail-level innovations that are tailored to informal retail contexts, whereas remaining aligned with established top-down theories and literature pertaining to food environments and healthy diets. We provided empirical evidence highlighting how both vendors and consumers respond positively to the co-created innovations. Expanding upon our results, we offered methodological insights applicable to interventions targeted at food environments in LMICs, and considerations for future research or development initiatives in this domain. Our findings revealed the capacity of vulnerable stakeholders to actively engage in public health initiatives and contribute to developing innovative solutions that are context-specific and conducive to the adoption of healthier dietary practices. These results confirm the potential of bottom-up, co-creation, real-world interventions within informal settings to contribute toward fostering inclusive transformation of food systems., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Livelihoods have changed dramatically over the past decade in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). These shifts are happening in tandem with shifts in individual and household food choice behaviors. This scoping review aimed to identify and characterize mechanisms through which livelihood changes could affect food choice behaviors in LMIC, including behaviors relating to food production, acquisition, preparation, distribution, and consumption. A literature search was conducted using 4 databases: PubMed, PsycInfo, AGRICOLA, and Embase. The search was further enhanced by expert solicitations. Studies were included if they measured or focused on a livelihood change, described or assessed a change in ≥1 food choice behavior, and focused on LMIC. Studies were excluded if they focused on migration from LMIC to a high-income country. Of the 433 articles that were identified, 53 met the inclusion criteria. Five mechanisms of how livelihood change can affect food choice were identified: occupation, locality, time, income, and social relations. Changes in occupation altered the balance of the availability and affordability of foods in local food environments compared with individual food production. Changes in location, time use, and income influenced where food was purchased, what types of foods were acquired, and how or where foods were prepared. Additionally, changes in social relationships and norms led to expanded food preferences, particularly among urban populations. Time limitations and higher discretionary income were associated with consumption of ultraprocessed foods. Understanding the relationships between the changes in livelihood occuring in LMIC and food choices of households in these countries can inform the development of policies, programs, and other actions to promote sustainable healthy diets and planetary health., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Low fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in low- and middle-income countries, which is associated with noncommunicable diseases and micronutrient deficiencies, requires food system interventions addressing FV accessibility, affordability, and acceptability. Periodic FV intake monitoring during interventions informs progress toward achieving increased intakes and contributes to understanding the effectiveness of these interventions., Objectives: This study evaluates the trend in FV intake before, during, and after implementation of a set of nutrition-sensitive food system interventions addressing accessibility, affordability, and acceptability to increase FV consumption over a 1-y period in Vietnamese and Nigerian low-income urban and periurban females., Methods: We used the Diet Quality Questionnaire to assess FV food group consumption among 600 Vietnamese (Hanoi) and 610 Nigerian (Ibadan) females before, during, and after the interventions (Vietnam: July 2020-September 2021; Nigeria: November 2020-December 2021). A FV score was compared between exposure groups with (mixed) count modeling. The trend in consumption of individual FV groups was analyzed with mixed logistic regression., Results: The FV score was stable over time, and a small increase was observed after the intervention period especially in Nigeria and in urban Vietnam. A decrease in the total score was observed in periurban Vietnam. Fluctuations were detected in the probability of consumption of individual FV groups over time especially within the fruit groups, probably due to seasonal availability. The degree of exposure could not explain differences in FV intake., Conclusions: We found a marginal increase in the proportion of females consuming FV during the interventions in both countries. The FV score appeared to be a simple, quick, and easy-to-use indicator for monitoring diversity, variety, and consumption., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Supply chain quality management practices are necessary to improve processes, meet consumer quality needs, and enhance supply chain quality management performance in sustainable food networks. Food supply chain quality management and associated practices are considerably studied in global food systems, less so for alternative food networks. There are salient differences between global food systems and alternative food networks, which may reflect on the applicable supply chain quality management practices in the food systems and networks. This paper reviews the literature on supply chain quality management practices, with a focus on alternative food networks. A systematic literature review methodology is adopted, resulting in the analysis of seventy-eight papers, identifying a total of one hundred and three supply chain quality management practices. The identified supply chain quality management practices were analysed in relation to their link to a) place, production, and producer and b) link to (bio)processes. Emerging themes from the analysis are discussed, and some areas of future research were put forward., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Cities increasingly envision sustainable future food systems. The realization of such futures is often understood from a planning perspective, leaving the role of entrepreneurship out of scope. The city of Almere in the Netherlands provides a telling example. In the neighborhood Almere Oosterwold, residents must use 50% of their plot for urban agriculture. The municipality formulated an ambition that over time, 10% off all food consumed in Almere must be produced in Oosterwold. In this study, we assume the development of urban agriculture in Oosterwold is an entrepreneurial process, i.e. a creative (re)organization that is ongoing and intervenes in daily life. To understand how this entrepreneurial process helps to realize sustainable food futures, this paper explores what futures for urban agriculture residents of Oosterwold prefer and deem possible and how these futures are organized in the present. We use futuring to explore possible and preferable images of the future, and to backcast those images to the present day. Our findings show residents have different perspectives of the future. Furthermore, they are capable in formulating specific actions to obtain the futures they prefer, but have trouble committing to the actions themselves. We argue this is the result of a temporal dissonance, a myopia where residents have trouble looking beyond their own situation. It shows imagined futures must fit with the lived experiences of citizens in order to be realized. We conclude that urban food futures need planning and entrepreneurship to be realized since they are complementary social processes., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article., (© The Author(s) 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Background: Consumption of unsafe foods increases morbidity and mortality and is currently an issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Policy actions to ensure food safety are dominated by mitigation of biological and chemical hazards through supply-side risk management, lessening the degree to which consumer perspectives of food safety are considered., Objectives: This study aimed to provide an in-depth understanding, from vendor and consumer perspectives, of how food-safety concerns of consumers translate into their subsequent food-choice behaviors in 6 diverse low- and middle-income countries., Methods: Six Drivers of Food Choice projects (2016-2022) provided transcripts from 17 focus group discussions and 343 interviews conducted in Ghana, Guinea, India, Kenya, Tanzania, and Vietnam. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify emerging themes important to food safety., Results: The analysis suggests that consumers constructed meaning about food safety through personal lived experience and social influences. Community and family members contributed knowledge about food safety. Concerns about food safety were influenced by reputations of and relationships with food vendors. Consumers' mistrust of food vendors was amplified by purposeful adulteration or unsafe selling practices and new methods used to produce food. Moreover, consumers were reassured of food safety by positive relationships with vendors; meals cooked at home; implementation of policies and following regulations; vendor adherence to environmental sanitation and food-hygiene practices; cleanliness of vendors' appearance; and vendors' or producers' agency to use risk mitigation strategies in production, processing, and distribution of food., Conclusions: Consumers integrated their meanings, knowledge, and concerns about food safety to achieve assurance about the safety of their foods when making food-choice decisions. The success of food-safety policies hinges on consideration of consumers' food-safety concerns in their design and implementation, alongside actions to reduce risk in food supply., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Equitable access to healthy food is a critical challenge in urban Asia. Food safety governance promotes modern supermarkets over more traditional markets, but supermarkets are associated with unequal access to food. This study investigates how retail policies driven by food safety impact the diets of the urban poor in Hanoi, Vietnam. We do this by linking food retail infrastructures with the food shopping practices and measured dietary intake of 400 women. Our results reveal sub-optimal dietary diversity and reliance on foods sourced through traditional markets, which do not provide formal food safety guarantees. Modern channels supply formal food safety guarantees, but are mainly frequented for purchasing ultra-processed foods. The paper uncovers a conflicting duality governing food security and suggests that the public responsibility for ensuring access of the poor to nutritious and safe foods requires a more diverse retail policy approach., (© 2019 International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).)