Food Sustainability

U.S. public schools generate 14,500 tons of waste daily, and 42% is from food packaging alone, posing a threat to human health. To respond, California enacted the Sustainable Packaging for the State of California Act of 2018, requiring school food serviceware to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable…

Have you ever seen a walking stick insect, maybe in a museum display or at an entomology demonstration? They look just like twigs and are fascinating creatures. This makes them popular as pets in classrooms and homes. However, if pet walking sticks are accidentally or purposefully let out of their cages,…

A new open-access publication outlines how to better translate science at the climate–food–health nexus into effective policy and practice. Published in Advances in Nutrition, authors propose a practical framework grounded in ecological systems thinking to help decision-makers navigate the complex…

The California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) supports Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) shoppers in purchasing fruits and vegetables by providing a dollar-for-dollar match to SNAP dollars spent on produce. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers conducted a mixed-methods study utilizing…

A late-summer test on a farm near Soledad, CA, looked at eight biological product programs for romaine lettuce compared to a standard method used by growers, with normal irrigation and nutrients in the Salinas Valley. The marketable stand was the same in all treatments, and the amounts of fresh and dry…

A new review published in the Journal of Nutrition highlights how children’s and adolescents’ nutrition—and its impact on health, learning, and development—is shaped by a complex nutrition ecology that extends beyond individual dietary intake. The paper is part of the Biomarkers of Nutrition for…

A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior explored the perceptions of elementary school parents and staff in a large, urban California school district that recently introduced more freshly-prepared school lunches. Based on interviews and focus groups conducted from May…