Food Politics

There are over seven billion people in the world and every one of them needs to eat to live. Feeding a growing world population means that crop yields have to be improved. Fertilizers are important to improve crop yields in order to feed a growing global population.

Tensie Whelan, Director of the Center for Sustainable Business at NYU Stern School of Business blogs about the value of sustainability in strengthening an organization’s position, including food and beverage companies, into the sustainability-focused future.

As the Nutrition, Health and Wellness manager for Nestlé Professional North America, my role consists of leading, guiding and inspiring nutrition and health in everything that we do: from the products we develop to the communication and the support we provide to the restaurants we work with.

As the world’s largest food company, and one that connects farmers to consumers, how can Nestlé help shape the future of food systems?

Pizza Hut and community-based hunger relief organizations are celebrating a major milestone: surpassing 100 million pounds of food donated by Pizza Hut to feed those in need locally and across the country. Since 1992, Pizza Hut restaurants have donated food to hunger relief organizations nationwide through its Harvest Program, a program originated by the company 25 years ago in partnership with Food Donation Connection (FDC).

Right before the U.S. equity markets opened on Friday, June 16th my phone erupted with texts from numerous industry friends on the announcement of the Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods. I have been in this industry for decades, and, for me, this was one of the most exciting and interesting days I can remember for the organic movement, certainly since the release of the USDA organic standards in 2002.

The Food System is facing unprecedented challenges. It needs to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population and grow our food in a manner that does not exceed societal and planetary boundaries. This is against a backdrop of climate change that will strain productivity in many parts of the world and put more pressure on water and land use.

How do we decide what to eat every day? Most of us would probably say that we consider our health when we’re selecting food. But our food choices are also influenced by how much time and money we have, as well as intangibles like our cultural heritage and emotions.