Dear colleagues,

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the 34th EFFoST International Conference Bridging high-tech, food-tech and health: Consumer-oriented innovations will be held online, on 10-12 November 2020. In light of the increasing challenges the food industry faces, there is an immediate need for healthy, safe, sustainable, diverse and wholesome food solutions to fit the needs and preferences of the consumer. The 34th EFFoST International Conference will catalyse partnerships and exchanges of fundamental and applied interdisciplinary insights and ideas to enhance and extend the capacity of the food sector to face such challenges today and tomorrow. The registration is open now at 

Guest Editor Nadia Palmieri and Dr. Alessandro Suardi from CREA Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing are pleased to announce a Special Issue of Sustainability on “Agricultural and Food System Sustainability: The Complex Challenge of Losses and Waste”. For this Special Issue, they welcome conceptual and empirical studies that analyze actions: To reduce losses of products and byproducts at the farm level; To promote sustainable agriculture; To provide insights into the relationships between consumers and household food waste behaviors; To evaluate the market potential of food obtained from byproducts; To promote the reuse of waste and byproducts to increase the nutritional value of food; To underline causes of food waste and its correlation with climate change, agriculture, and population growth. This special issue is now open for submission. Deadline is 1 February 2021.

Guest Editors Dr. Davide Menozzi, Dr. Francesca Scazzina and Dr. Michele Donati of the University of Parma welcome original research and reviews of literature for Special Issue "Sustainable Diet Combining Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Nutritional Objectives". Topics of interest include: Models identifying sustainable diets involving multiple dimensions, Factors driving the adoption of sustainable diets, Interventions by public and/or private bodies (e.g., information treatments, fiscal measures, education, labels, etc.) to promote sustainable diets, Targets for healthy diets from sustainable food systems intertwined with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Comparing socioeconomic, environmental sustainability, and cultural interconnections of different dietary patterns, Assessing the environmental impact of diets through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches, Relationships between sustainable diets and public food procurement strategies, Shifts towards more sustainable dietary patterns, including reductions in food loss and waste, and implications for food production, retail and foodservice (including public or private canteens). Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2020.

Dr. Clara Cicatiello and Dr. Mattias Eriksson are the Guest Editors of the Special Issue on "The Challenge of Food Waste Reduction to Achieve More Sustainable Food Systems". This Special Issue seeks to push the research on the strategies that may be implemented at any stage of the supply chain to reduce the amount of food waste generated. Articles shall focus on food waste prevention strategies and actions, but studies dealing with sustainable management of food waste, in line with the food waste hierarchy, may also be considered. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2020.

Finally, Guest Editors Dr. Oriana Gava from the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis in Rome and Dr. Giovanna Sacchi from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano invite researchers to contribute to the Special Issue "Addressing the Food–Health–Environmental Nexus for Agri-Food System Sustainability". Researchers are called to contribute to the existing knowledge about the food–health–environment nexus, to support the development of solutions to address the environmental and health impacts of agri-food systems simultaneously, with practical implications for strategic decision making by policy makers and in the agribusiness. The purpose of this Special Issue is to offer insights into how different practices, systems, technologies, and approaches to food production and consumption can create positive synergies in the food–health–environment nexus, by boosting the positive externalities on the environment and human health, while mitigating the negative ones. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2021.