How resilient is the United States' food system to pandemics?

Managing and mitigating future public health risks: Planetary boundaries, global catastrophic risk, and inclusive wealth

There are two separate conceptualizations for assessing existential risks: Planetary Boundaries (PBs) and global catastrophic risks (GCRs). While these concepts are similar in principle, their underpinning literatures tend not to engage with each other. Research related to these concepts has tended to be siloed in terms of the study of specific threats and also in terms of how these are assumed to materialize; PBs attribute global catastrophes to slow-moving and potentially irreversible global changes, while GCRs focuses on cataclysmic short-term events. We argue that there is a need for a more unified approach to managing global long-term risks, which recognizes the complex and confounded nature of the interactions between PBs and GCRs. We highlight where the PB and GCR concepts overlap and outline these complexities using an example of public health, namely, pandemics and food insecurity. We also present an existing indicator that we argue can be used for monitoring and managing risk. We argue for greater emphasis on national and global ''inclusive wealth'' as a way to measure economic activity and thus to monitor and mitigate the unintended consequences of economic activity. In sum, we call for a holistic approach to stewardship aimed at preserving the integrity of natural capital in the face of a broad range of global risks and their respective regional or global manifestations.

Determining the Impacts of COVID-19 on Urban Deliveries in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte Using Spatial Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed lifestyles, with consequent impacts on urban freight movements. This paper analyzes the impacts of COVID-19 on urban deliveries in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region, Brazil. The Lee index and the Local Indicator of Spatial Association were calculated using data on urban deliveries (retail and home deliveries) and COVID-19 cases. The results confirmed the negative impacts on retail deliveries and the positive impacts on home deliveries. The spatial analysis demonstrated that the most interconnected cities presented more similar patterns. At the beginning of the pandemic, consumers were considerably concerned about the virus spread, and the changes in consumption behavior were slow. The findings suggest the importance of alternative strategies to traditional retail. In addition, the local infrastructure should adapt to the increased demand for home deliveries during pandemics.

System dynamics model for improving the robustness of a fresh agri-food supply chain to disruptions

The agri-food sector is subject to various sources of uncertainty and risk that can have a negative impact on its supply chain performance if not properly managed. In order to determine what actions the supply chain (SC) should take to protect itself against risks, it is necessary to analyze whether the supply chain is robust to them. This paper proposes a tool based on a system dynamics model to determine the robustness of an already designed five-stage fresh agri-food supply chain (AFSC) and its planting planning to disruptions in demand, supply, transport, and the operability of its nodes. The model is validated using the known behavior replication test and the extreme conditions test. In order to guide decision-makers in the different uses of the above system dynamic model, a methodology for the improvement of the AFSC robustness is presented and applied to a case study. As a result, the SC robustness to the defined disruptions is provided. For critical disruptions, protective actions are defined. Finally, the model is re-run to evaluate the impact of these proactive strategies on the AFSC in order to finally select the most beneficial for improving its robustness.

The emergence of new critical infrastructures. Is the COVID-19 pandemic shifting our perspective on what critical infrastructures are?

Our modern world is highly dependent on the functioning of a complex system of interdependent infrastructures. Failure of one infrastructure can have severe and far-reaching impacts on other infrastructures and jeopardize the functioning of the whole system. While certain infrastructures have been considered highly critical and their dependencies and protection has been addressed extensively and for decades, others have been considered less or not at all critical and have been barely debated. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented strain on infrastructure systems and has revealed that different infrastructures become highly critical throughout an ongoing and long-lasting crisis than during a sudden but short-term crisis. This paper investigates the representation of critical infrastructure dependency descriptions in the literature before and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this qualitative study, the quantity of descriptions per critical infrastructure dependency is analyzed and visualized and used to discuss the perception of how critical those infrastructures are. The study revealed that new infrastructures have been identified as critical in recent literature and that the focus was shifted to specific infrastructures that were in more pressing need during the pandemic. This shift of focus was observed to happen from the sectors of energy, water, transport & traffic, and ICT before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to the sectors public health, constitutional institutions, transport & traffic, and food since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, analysis of the literature revealed infrastructures which had previously not been classified as critical, being discussed as new critical infrastructures. Urban green spaces, for example, have proven to be essential for the health and well-being of citizens during lockdown times. Further, social services like childcare, care of the elderly, delivery services, and online grocery shopping have been highlighted as essential services for maintaining workforces and the functioning of society during a pandemic. Overall, the analysis of descriptions of critical infrastructure dependencies before and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed changes in the focus on critical infrastructures and in the perception of what makes critical infrastructures critical.

Assessing natural global catastrophic risks

The risk of global catastrophe from natural sources may be significantly larger than previous analyses have found. In the study of global catastrophic risk (GCR), one line of thinking posits that deep human history renders natural GCRs insignificant. Essentially, the fact that natural hazards did not cause human extinction at any previous time makes it unlikely that they would do so now. This paper finds flaws in this argument, refines the theory of natural GCR, analyzes the space of natural GCRs, and presents implications for decision-making and research. The paper analyzes natural climate change, natural pandemics, near-Earth objects (asteroids, comets, and meteors), space weather (coronal mass ejections, solar flares, and solar particle events), stellar explosions (gamma-ray bursts and supernovae), and volcanic eruptions. Almost all natural GCR scenarios involve important interactions between the natural hazard and human civilization. Several natural GCR scenarios may have high ongoing probability. Deep human history provides little information about the resilience of modern global civilization to natural global catastrophes. The natural GCRs should not be dismissed on grounds of deep human history. Work on natural GCRs should account for their important human dimensions. A case can even be made for abandoning the distinction between natural and anthropogenic GCR.

Disruption to vegetable food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

Globally, the COVID-19 (SARSCoV-2) pandemic has affected human health and the flow of goods and services in many sectors, with significant social and economic consequences and repercussions. COVID-19 lockdowns have disrupted food systems; impacting farmers, food producers, traders and consumers. Using a food system approach, disruptions to and the resilience of vegetable food production and trade was analysed. Representatives of traditional farming systems in Lao PDR producing and trading vegetables were involved. Over 350 farmers, 60 wholesalers, 50 retailers and 70 consumers were surveyed to determine the disruptions to vegetable supplies in terms of quantities traded, prices and income fluctuations. Findings revealed significant impacts on trading capacity and consequent reductions in incomes, prices, purchases, transport and sales of produce. However, livelihoods resumed as soon as the lockdown lifted. Traditionally, vegetable production and trading are a woman's tasks and hence women were the most affected by the disruptions. With trading contractions, the stability of the food supply was threatened, but only temporarily, indicating that a traditional, resilient farming system based on lower population densities, lower input requirements and lower productivity could adapt to novel disruptions in the short term.

Emergency food supplies and food security in Wuhan and Nanjing, China, during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a field survey

MOTIVATION

Detailed empirical work on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security is scant. Local management of food security has received little attention.

PURPOSE

This article describes emergency food policies in Wuhan and Nanjing, China during lockdown in 2020 and their implications for household food security in the two cities.

METHODS AND APPROACH

Policy documents and background data describe the emergency measures. Online surveys of residents of two Chinese cities were used to gauge household food security.

FINDINGS

Despite the determined efforts of provincial and city governments to ensure that food reached people who were locked down in Wuhan, or subject to restrictions on movement in Nanjing, households experienced some decline in food security. Most households found they could not access their preferred foods. But a minority of households did not get enough to eat.Government had contingency plans for the pandemic that ensured that most people had sufficient, if not preferred, food. But not all households were fully covered.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

A more resilient system of food distribution is needed, including a relatively closed and independent home delivery system. Grassroots organizations such as residential community committees, property management organizations, and spontaneous volunteer groups need to be brought into the management of emergency food provision.

Urban Gardening and Wellbeing in Pandemic Era: Preliminary Results from a Socio-Environmental Factors Approach

The nature and impacts of living in urban settings are gaining their saliences in developed and developing countries alike, particularly during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the crisis, the wellbeing of urban society became intertwined with a so-called “new lifestyle”, which involved quarantine and working in a home environment. Facing such challenges, urban gardening is deemed as an alternative intervention to enhance residents’ wellbeing and the environmental sustainability of urban areas, including Indonesian cities. A preliminary study was conducted to monitor the wellbeing of urban gardening practitioners, as well as investigate the motivation and any association between gardening and wellbeing with the COVID-19 pandemic situation by analysing data from Indonesian metropolitan areas. The study utilized instruments of “satisfaction with life scale (SWLS)” and “scale of positive and negative experience (SPANE)” to investigate the subjective wellbeing of 67 respondents. Amongst others, we identified that urban gardening practitioners tend to be in positive moods and have better overall wellbeing; 52.24% of the respondents were highly satisfied with their life. Furthermore, we observed a variety of motivations to start gardening, with hobby and utilization of free space as prominent reasons, followed by other motivations such as environmental benefit and aesthetic. Integrating the environmental benefits of urban gardening and the implications for an individual’s wellbeing can be reflected for sustainable urban development and policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Changes in the Innovation- and Marketing-Habits of Family SMEs in the Foodstuffs Industry, Caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic in Hungary

The economic specialties caused by the global coronavirus pandemic completely changed everyday life regarding certain sectors. For the small and medium enterprises, processing during the pandemic held several significant challenges, such as: cost-efficient operations, hardship of keeping employees, efficient management of innovation and various corporate activities, keeping the customers, etc. Many enterprises saw severe damages indirectly from the coronavirus pandemic, as society itself had its habits significantly changed, thereby necessitating changes in strategy for small and medium enterprises, most notably for local service providers and producers that have no delivery service. In order to solve the issue at hand, several governments tried applying a variety of solutions—mostly by financing the enterprises in question. The goal of the authors is to understand the current operation of innovation initiatives that small and medium enterprises have post-COVID-19, and to obtain a clear view on changes in marketing habits. Furthermore, the analysis concentrates on the following: the state of family SMEs dealing in foodstuffs, and how to create a future view for such members of the sector by identifying best practices. Using data collected during 2020 and 2021, and employing descriptive statistics and a conjoint analysis, the authors wished to see how the coronavirus pandemic affected SMEs, detect the changes in their marketing and innovation policy due to the pandemic, and help them create core business strategy via consumer feedback. Authors found that SMEs had to innovate by 2021 beyond their 2019 expectations, and that customers had partially validated their endeavors through their answers.

Perceived Diet Quality, Eating Behaviour, and Lifestyle Changes in a Mexican Population with Internet Access during Confinement for the COVID-19 Pandemic: ESCAN-COVID19Mx Survey

Perceived changes in diet quality, emotional eating, physical activity, and lifestyle were evaluated in a group of Mexican adults before and during COVID-19 confinement. In this study, 8289 adults answered an online questionnaire between April and May 2020. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported weight and height, diet quality, emotional eating, physical activity, and lifestyle changes were collected. Before and after confinement, differences by sociodemographic characteristics were assessed with Wilcoxon, Anova, and linear regression analyses. Most participants were women (80%) between 18 and 38 years old (70%), with a low degree of marginalisation (82.8%) and a high educational level (84.2%); 53.1% had a normal weight and 31.4% were overweight. Half (46.8%) of the participants perceived a change in the quality of their diet. The Diet Quality Index (DQI) was higher during confinement (it improved by 3 points) in all groups, regardless of education level, marginalisation level, or place of residence (p < 0.001). Lifestyle changes were present among some of the participants, 6.1% stopped smoking, 12.1% stopped consuming alcohol, 53.3% sleep later, 9% became more sedentary, and increased their screen (43%) as well as sitting and lying down time (81.6%). Mexicans with Internet access staying at home during COVID-19 confinement perceived positive changes in the quality of their diet, smoking, and alcohol consumption, but negative changes in the level of physical activity and sleep quality. These results emphasise the relevance of encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviours during and after times of crisis to prevent the risk of complications due to infectious and chronic diseases.

Development of sustainable and resilient healthcare and non-cold pharmaceutical distribution supply chain for COVID-19 pandemic: a case study

Purpose

This study evaluated the influence of the coronavirus pandemic on the healthcare and non-cold pharmaceutical care distribution supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

The model involves four objective functions to minimize the total costs, environmental impacts, lead time and the probability of a healthcare provider being infected by a sick person was developed. An improved version of the augmented e-constraint method was applied to solve the proposed model for a case study of a distribution company to show the effectiveness of the proposed model. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the sensitive parameters. Finally, two robust models were developed to overcome the innate uncertainty of sensitive parameters.

Findings

The result demonstrated a significant reduction in total costs, environmental impacts, lead time and probability of a healthcare worker being infected from a sick person by 40%, 30%, 75% and 54%, respectively, under the coronavirus pandemic compared to the normal condition. It should be noted that decreasing lead time and disease infection rate could reduce mortality and promote the model's effectiveness.

Practical implications

Implementing this model could assist the healthcare and pharmaceutical distributors to make more informed decisions to minimize the cost, lead time, environmental impacts and enhance their supply chain resiliency.

Originality/value

This study introduced an objective function to consider the coronavirus infection rates among the healthcare workers impacted by the pharmaceutical/healthcare products supply chain. This study considered both economic and environmental consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic condition, which occurred on a significantly larger scale than past pandemic and epidemic crises.

Understanding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable agri-food system and agroecosystem decarbonization nexus: A review

The existing finite natural resources have witnessed unsustainable usage in the past few years, especially for food production, with accompanying environmental devastation and ecosystem damage. Regrettably, the global population and consumption demands are increasing ceaselessly, leading to the need for more resources for food production, which could potentially aggravate the sustainability and ecosystem degradation issues, while stimulating drastic climate change. Meanwhile, the unexpected emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and some implemented measures to combat its spread disrupted agricultural activities and the food supply chain, which also led to a reduction in ecosystem carbonization. This study sets out to explore policy framework and selected feasible actions that are being adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could potentially reduce the emissions even after the pandemic to promote a resilient and sustainable agri-food system. In this study, we reviewed 27 articles that focus on the current state of the agri-food system in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the decarbonization of the agroecosystem. This review has taken the form of a systematic methodology in analyzing the adoption and implementation of various measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on the impact of the agri-food system and reduction in ecosystem degradation. Up to 0.3 Mt of CO2 reduction from the agri-food system alone was reportedly achieved during the first 6 months of the pandemic in 23 European countries. The various adopted measures indicate that the circular economy approach is a panacea to achieve the needed sustainability in the agri-food system. Also, it dictates a need for a paradigm change towards improvement on localized food production that promotes sustainable production and consumption.

Causal Impacts of Epidemics and Pandemics on Food Supply Chains: A Systematic Review

The epidemics and pandemics can severely affect food supply chains, including producers, retailers, wholesalers, and customers. To minimize their impacts, it is fundamental to implement effective policies that ensure continuity in the provision, affordability, and distribution of basic food items. This research identifies the main impacts of pandemics and epidemics on food supply chains and policies that can minimize these impacts. Based on a systematic literature review (SLR), 173 documents are analysed to propose a taxonomy of impacts on four supply chain links: demand-side, supply-side, logistics and infrastructure, and management and operation. The taxonomy presents the main impacts and respective mitigation policies. In addition, the literature review leads to the development of a comprehensive causal loop diagram (CLD) with the identification of main variables and their relationship with food supply chains. Finally, a specific research agenda is proposed by identifying the main research gaps. These findings provide a structured method for evaluating policies that ensure the functioning of food supply chains, particularly in disruptions such as epidemics and pandemics.

Operational challenges during a pandemic: an investigation in the electronics industry

Purpose

The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses numerous challenges to supply chains. This pandemic is quite unique when compared to previous epidemic disruptions and has had a severe impact on supply chains. As a result, the operational challenges (OCs) caused by COVID-19 are still unknown among practitioners and academics. It is critical to comprehensively document current OCs so that firms can plan and implement strategies to overcome them. Consequently, this study systematically identifies and ranks COVID-19-related OCs.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses an integrated methodology combining expert interviews and the best-worst method (BWM) to analyze the results. The data have been collected from the electronics industry of Bangladesh, an emerging economy. This study also conducts a sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of the results.

Findings

The results reveal 23 COVID-19-related OCs under five categories: sourcing, production and inventory management, demand management and distribution, return management and after-sales service, and supply chain-wide challenges. The quantitative investigation reveals that overstock in finished goods inventory, low end-customer demands, order cancellations from dealers and retailers, high inventory holding costs and lack of transportation are the top five OCs.

Practical implications

The findings will help practitioners to understand the OCs and allow them to prepare for future major disruptions and formulate long-term strategies for operations during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on supply chain complexity and challenges by considering a major pandemic outbreak. Moreover, the study also contributes to the knowledge on emerging economies, which have been largely neglected in the current literature.

Toward Resilient Water-Energy-Food Systems under Shocks: Understanding the Impact of Migration, Pandemics, and Natural Disasters

The historic pandemic faced by the international community today boldly demonstrates the complexity and interconnectedness of the resource challenges we must better understand and address in the future. Further complexity is observed when accounting for the impact of compounded shocks related to natural disasters and forced migration around the world. Effectively addressing these challenges requires the development of research that cuts across disciplines and innovates at their interfaces, in order to develop multifaceted solutions that respond to the social, economic, technological, and policy dimensions of these challenges. Water, energy, and food systems are tightly interconnected. They are faced with pressures of varying natures and levels of urgency which need to be better understood, especially as nations work toward achieving the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This paper will review existing models and knowledge gaps related to water-energy-food (WEF) nexus models, as well as models for quantifying the impact of migration, pandemics, and natural disasters on this resource nexus. Specifically, this paper will: (1) explore the WEF nexus literature and identify gaps in current assessment tools and models; (2) explore the literature on tools and models for predicting the shocks of migration, natural disasters, and pandemics; (3) identify interconnections between water, energy, and food systems and the identified shocks; (4) develop a common framework that provides a road map for integrating those shocks in WEF nexus analysis; (5) provide recommendations for future research and policies moving forward.

COVID-19 Reveals Vulnerabilities of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus to Viral Pandemics

Food, energy, and water (FEW) sectors are inextricably linked, making one sector vulnerable to disruptions in another. Interactions between FEW systems, viral pandemics, and human health have not been widely studied. We mined scientific and news/media articles for causal relations among FEW and COVID-19 variables and qualitatively characterized system dynamics. Food systems promoted the emergence and spread of COVID-19, leading to illness and death. Major supply-side breakdowns were avoided (likely due to low morbidity/mortality among working-age people). However, COVID-19 and physical distancing disrupted labor and capital inputs and stressed supply chains, while creating economic insecurity among the already vulnerable poor. This led to demand-side FEW insecurities, in turn increasing susceptibility to COVID-19 among people with many comorbidities. COVID-19 revealed trade-offs such as allocation of water to hygiene versus to food production and disease burden avoided by physical distancing versus disease burden from increased FEW insecurities. News/media articles suggest great public interest in FEW insecurities triggered by COVID-19 interventions among individuals with low COVID-19 case-fatality rates. There is virtually no quantitative analysis of any of these trade-offs or feedbacks. Enhanced quantitative FEW and health models are urgently needed as future pandemics are likely and may have greater morbidity and mortality than COVID-19.

Tackling Airborne Virus Threats in the Food Industry: A Proactive Approach

The current SARS-COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the dangers that airborne virus (AV) pandemics pose to the health of all workers (particularly in the meat processing industry), the economic health of the food industry, and food security. The impact that the current pandemic has had on the food industry points to the need for a proactive rather than reactive approach towards preventing future AV outbreaks. Such a proactive approach should be based on empirical assessments of current AV food safety practices and the development of more robust practices tailored to the culture and needs of the food industry. Moreover, a proactive approach is necessary in order to better prepare the food industry for future AV outbreaks, protect the health of workers, reduce disparities in AV occupational health risks, and enhance the safety of the food supply chain. The aim of this review is to make the case for a new food safety research paradigm that incorporates the intensive study of airborne viruses under conditions that simulate food industry work environments.

COVID-19 pandemic related supply chain studies: A systematic review

The global spread of the novel coronavirus, also known as the COVID-19 pandemic, has had a devastating impact on supply chains. Since the pandemic started, scholars have been researching and publishing their studies on the various supply-chain-related issues raised by COVID-19. However, while the number of articles on this subject has been steadily increasing, due to the absence of any systematic literature reviews, it remains unclear what aspects of this disruption have already been studied and what aspects still need to be investigated. The present study systematically reviews existing research on the COVID-19 pandemic in supply chain disciplines. Through a rigorous and systematic search, we identify 74 relevant articles published on or before 28 September 2020. The synthesis of the findings reveals that four broad themes recur in the published work: namely, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, resilience strategies for managing impacts and recovery, the role of technology in implementing resilience strategies, and supply chain sustainability in the light of the pandemic. Alongside the synthesis of the findings, this study describes the methodologies, context, and theories used in each piece of research. Our analysis reveals that there is a lack of empirically designed and theoretically grounded studies in this area; hence, the generalizability of the findings, thus far, is limited. Moreover, the analysis reveals that most studies have focused on supply chains for high-demand essential goods and healthcare products, while low-demand items and SMEs have been largely ignored. We also review the literature on prior epidemic outbreaks and other disruptions in supply chain disciplines. By considering the findings of these articles alongside research on the COVID-19 pandemic, this study offers research questions and directions for further investigation. These directions can guide scholars in designing and conducting impactful research in the field.

Assessment of the Immediate and Potential Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 Outbreak on Socioeconomics, Agriculture, Security of Food and Dietary Intake in Nigeria

Nigeria agriculture, food security and dietary intake have not been exempted from the disruptions in countless sectors around the world due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The country first experienced the outbreak on February 27, 2020, and the experience since then has shown negative effects not only on the socioeconomic conditions but also on agriculture, food security and dietary intake. Long term in-depth analysis of the effects of this pandemic on food security and dietary intake using quantitative data is still very difficult due to paucity of data and the great level of the improbability of the trajectory of the spread of the Virus. This study is a rapid assessment of the short and long-term potential effects of the disease. It relied on a review of situation reports especially by the Nigeria Centre of Disease Control and other reports around the world on COVID-19, personal observations, and public opinion via mobile telephone survey of Lagos and Oyo States, Nigeria. Findings show that food demand and supply shocks caused by COVID-19 outbreak affect agriculture, food and dietary intake negatively through COVID-19 policies. It leads to a reduction in household income coupled with hike in food prices. Owing to the Nigeria's crude farming practice, there was a scarcity of hired labour required for production process during 2020 farming season. This implies a high likelihood of low output and further surge in food prices in the future. Food access was also compromised with the accumulation of unsold fresh produce by the smallholder farmers and the low salary earners during movement restrictions and of loss income as a result of international border closure. Food and dietary intake is affected as people are shifting diets to more affordable and low quality foods, while food stability is not guaranteed due to market insecurity, prompting an extraordinary level of indecision. The study concludes that the shock of COVID-19 is not only a demand management problem but a multidimensional crisis requiring monetary, fiscal, and health policy responses with global collaboration and cooperation.

Transformation of the Food Sector: Security and Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a new era in the efficacy of the food supply chain, while the consequences of this new era on humanity, the economy, and the food sector are still under examination. For example, food security is one vital aspect of food systems which is directly affected. This review summarizes food security during epidemics and pandemics before moving on to panic buying, food shortages, and price spikes observed during the current crisis. The importance of food resilience, together with the need for addressing issues related to food loss and food waste, is underlined in the review towards food security and sustainable development. As a result, the pandemic has shown that our food systems are fragile. Since the global population and urbanization will grow in the coming decades, pandemics will likely occur more often, and climate change will intensify. Consequently, there is a need to ensure that our food systems become more sustainable and resilient. To that end, we have highlighted the need to develop contingency plans and mitigation strategies that would allow a more rapid response to extreme events (e.g., disasters from climate change) and transform the food sector by making it more resilient.

Protecting vulnerable people during pandemics through home delivery of essential supplies: a distribution logistics model

Purpose

This paper studies a concept for protecting vulnerable population groups during pandemics using direct home deliveries of essential supplies, from a distribution logistics perspective. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate feasible and resource-efficient home delivery strategies, including collaboration between retailers and logistics service providers based on a practical application.

Design/methodology/approach

A food home delivery concept in urban areas during pandemics is mathematically modeled. All seniors living in a district of Berlin, Germany, represent the vulnerable population supplied by a grocery distribution center. A capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) is developed in combination with a k-means clustering algorithm. To manage this large-scale problem efficiently, mixed-integer programming (MIP) is used. The impact of collaboration and additional delivery scenarios is examined with a sensitivity analysis.

Findings

Roughly 45 medically vulnerable persons can be served by one delivery vehicle in the baseline scenario. Operational measures allow a drastic decrease in required resources by reducing service quality. In this way, home delivery for the vulnerable population of Berlin can be achieved. This requires collaboration between grocery and parcel services and public authorities as well as overcoming accompanying challenges.

Originality/value

Developing a home delivery concept for providing essential goods to urban vulnerable groups during pandemics creates a special value. Setting a large-scale CVRP with variable fleet size in combination with a clustering algorithm contributes to the originality.

Global Food Insecurity and African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Rapid Review

Background

The global food insecurity reinforces the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on human health and mortality. Although literature remained sparse, reports indicated that food insecurity is disproportionately high among African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) population since the outset of COVID-19. Hence, we assessed the food insecurity conditions of ACB populations globally during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Comprehensive searches in CINAHL, Medline (Ovid), PubMed (Medline), Food Science and Technology Abstracts, SCOPUS, EMBASE, AMED, CAB Abstracts, Cochrane Library (OVID), and PsycINFO were carried out. Title/abstract and full-text screening, quality appraisal (modified JBI QARI), and data extraction were carried out by double reviewers.

Results

The initial search yielded 354 articles. After removal of duplicates and irrelevant articles, a full-text review and critical appraisal, 9 papers were included in the study. After data extraction and synthesis, six major themes emerged from the analysis: increased food insecurity, adverse health outcomes of food insecurity, exacerbation of existing disparities, systemic inequities and adverse policies, racism, and sociocultural response and solutions.

Conclusion/implications

The study showed that COVID-19 had exacerbated food insecurity and other health disparities within racialized populations including ACB people, due to systemic anti-Black racism; inadequate representation in decision-making; and issues of cultural appropriateness and competency of health services. While sociocultural response by ACB people through the expansion of their social capital is imperative, specific policies easing access to food, medicine, and shelter for racialized communities will ensure equity while reducing global food insecurity and health crises during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40615-021-00973-1.

COVID-19 and Food: Challenges and Research Needs

The paper highlights several food and nutrition-related challenges encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic, including food and water safety, supply chain disruptions, food and water insecurity, consumer and food behavior, malnutrition and nutrient intakes, food surveillance technology, as well as potential post-COVID-19 strategies. Its main objective is to stimulate robust scientific discussions on existing research gaps and to develop long-term "exit strategies" to prepare for future pandemics.

Food system disruption: initial livelihood and dietary effects of COVID-19 on vegetable producers in India

Disruption to food systems and impacts on livelihoods and diets have been brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to investigate effects of this multi-layered shock on production, sales, prices, incomes and diets for vegetable farmers in India as both producers and consumers of nutrient-dense foods. We undertook a rapid telephone survey with 448 farmers in 4 states, in one of the first studies to document the early impacts of the pandemic and policy responses on farming households.

We find that a majority of farmers report negative impacts on production, sales, prices and incomes. Over 80% of farms reported some decline in sales, and over 20% of farms reported devastating declines (sold almost nothing). Price reductions were reported by over 80% of farmers, and reductions by more than half for 50% of farmers. Similarly, farm income reportedly dropped for 90% of farms, and by more than half for 60%.

Of surveyed households, 62% reported disruptions to their diets. A majority of farm households reported reduced ability to access the most nutrient-dense foods. Around 80% of households reported ability to protect their staple food consumption, and the largest falls in consumption were in fruit and animal source foods other than dairy, in around half of households. Reported vegetable consumption fell in almost 30% of households, but vegetables were also the only food group where consumption increased for some, in around 15% of households.

Our data suggest higher vulnerability of female farmers in terms of both livelihoods and diet, and differential effects on smaller and larger farms, meaning different farms may require different types of support in order to continue to function. Farms reported diverse coping strategies to maintain sales, though often with negative implications for reported incomes. The ability to consume one’s own produce may be somewhat protective of diets when other routes to food access fail.

The impacts of COVID-19 and subsequent policy responses on both livelihoods and diets in horticultural households risk rolling back the impressive economic and nutrition gains India has seen over the past decade. Food systems, and particularly those making available the most nutrient-dense foods, must be considered in ongoing and future government responses.

The Food Systems in the Era of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Crisis

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19, broadly referred to as "coronavirus") a global pandemic, while thousands of infections and deaths are reported daily. The current article explores the food systems in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It provides insights about the properties of bioactive ingredients of foods and herbs for the support of the human immune system against infections before discussing the possibility of COVID-19 transmission through the food chain. It also highlights the global food security issues arising from the fact that one-third of the world's population is on lockdown. Finally, it underlines the importance of sustainability in the food chain in order to avoid or reduce the frequency of relevant food and health crises in the future.

Assessing food system vulnerabilities: a fault tree modeling approach

BACKGROUND

Food system function is vulnerable to disruption from a variety of sources. Disruption of the processes required for food provision may result in decreases in food security in affected communities. Currently, there are few tools that quantitatively predict or analyze food system vulnerabilities to contribute to food system resilience analysis. This work presents a prototype version of one such tool, a fault tree, which can be used conceptually and for future modeling work. Fault tree analysis is an engineering tool used to illustrate basic and intermediate factors that can cause overall system failures.

METHODS

The fault tree defines food system functioning as food security at the community level and maps the components of the food system onto three main tenets of food security - accessibility, availability, and acceptability. Subtrees were populated using a top down approach guided by expertise, extant literature, and 36 stakeholder interviews.

RESULTS

The food system is complex, requiring 12 subtrees to elaborate potential failures. Subtrees comprising accessibility include physical accessibility of the vending point and economic accessibility among community members. Food availability depends on the functioning of the food supply chain, or, in the case of individuals who rely on donated food, the food donation system. The food supply chain includes processing, wholesale operations, distribution systems, and retail center subtrees. Elements of acceptability include the medical appropriateness, nutritional adequacy, and cultural acceptability of food. Case studies of the effects of Winter Storm Jonas of 2016 and the 2013-2017 California drought in Baltimore City illustrate the utility of the fault tree model.

CONCLUSION

FTA of potential routes to food system failure provides a tool that allows for consideration of the entirety of the food system; has potential to provide a quantitative assessment of food system failure and recovery; and is able to capture short-term and long-term hazards in a single framework. This systems modeling approach highlights an extensive list of vulnerability points throughout the food system, and underscores the message that reducing food system vulnerabilities requires action at all levels to protect communities from the risks of short-term and long-term threats to food security.

Climate Change and Health: Transcending Silos to Find Solutions

BACKGROUND

Climate change has myriad implications for the health of humans, our ecosystems, and the ecological processes that sustain them. Projections of rising greenhouse gas emissions suggest increasing direct and indirect burden of infectious and noninfectious disease, effects on food and water security, and other societal disruptions. As the effects of climate change cannot be isolated from social and ecological determinants of disease that will mitigate or exacerbate forecasted health outcomes, multidisciplinary collaboration is critically needed.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this article was to review the links between climate change and its upstream drivers (ie, processes leading to greenhouse gas emissions) and health outcomes, and identify existing opportunities to leverage more integrated global health and climate actions to prevent, prepare for, and respond to anthropogenic pressures.

METHODS

We conducted a literature review of current and projected health outcomes associated with climate change, drawing on findings and our collective expertise to review opportunities for adaptation and mitigation across disciplines.

FINDINGS

Health outcomes related to climate change affect a wide range of stakeholders, providing ready collaborative opportunities for interventions, which can be differentiated by addressing the upstream drivers leading to climate change or the downstream effects of climate change itself.

CONCLUSIONS

Although health professionals are challenged with risks from climate change and its drivers, the adverse health outcomes cannot be resolved by the public health community alone. A phase change in global health is needed to move from a passive responder in partnership with other societal sectors to drive innovative alternatives. It is essential for global health to step outside of its traditional boundaries to engage with other stakeholders to develop policy and practical solutions to mitigate disease burden of climate change and its drivers; this will also yield compound benefits that help address other health, environmental, and societal challenges.