Call for Papers: Foods Journal Special Issue

Food loss and waste (FLW) has become a global challenge impacting food security, resource use efficiency, and environmental sustainability. Throughout the supply chain, from production to consumption, substantial amounts of edible food are lost and wasted. This not only reduces system efficiency but also leads to multiple impacts such as increased greenhouse gas emissions, intensified resource occupation, and economic losses. As issues of sustainable development and climate change become increasingly urgent, reducing FLW has become a global consensus. Current research primarily focuses on minimizing FLW across various supply chain stages and adding value to or recycling unavoidable waste. Through various pathways such as technological innovation, supply chain management optimization, consumer behavior interventions, and policy incentives, resource use efficiency can be significantly enhanced, and environmental pressures effectively alleviated.

Against this backdrop, Foods journal invites Prof. Shenggen Fan, Chair Professor and Dean of the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University, and Associate Prof. Li Xue from the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University to co-edit a Special Issue titled "Food Loss and Waste in Food Supply Chains". This Special Issue aims to gather interdisciplinary insights to explore the drivers, impacts, and solutions for food loss and waste, advancing progress towards sustainable development goals. Topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Food Loss

2. Food Waste

3. Supply Chain Management

4. Circular Economy

5. Resource Efficiency

6. Policy Interventions

7. Mitigation Strategies

8. Sustainability Transitions

9. Climate Change

Submission Deadline: March 10, 2026

Guest Editors

Prof. Shenggen Fan
Chair Professor and Dean of the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University. He served as Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2009 to 2019. He serves on the Board of the CGIAR System Organization, is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a Board Member of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), and is a member of the World Food Prize Council of Advisors and the EAT-Lancet Commission. He is a Fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and an Honorary Life Member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). He has conducted extensive research on food security and nutrition, agricultural development strategies, poverty reduction strategies, public investment, and technological progress globally and in regions including China, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. His research findings have been widely used by international organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations, as well as by governments of developing countries.

Research Areas: Global food and nutrition security, Agricultural and rural development, Poverty reduction, Agri-food system transformation.

Assoc. Prof. Li Xue
Associate Professor at the College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University. She has long been engaged in research on sustainable food systems, food loss and waste, and resource and environmental management. She has published multiple papers in international academic journals such as Nature Food, Environmental Science & Technology, and Resource, Conservation and Recycling, and has authored one translated book. She has led projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Beijing Social Science Foundation, and the Postdoctoral Innovative Talent Support Program, among others. Her research findings serve as important references for international organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on food loss and waste.

Research Areas: Sustainable food systems, Food loss and waste, Resource and environmental management.

About Foods Journal

Editor-in-Chief: Arun K. Bhunia, Purdue University, USA

Foods covers all aspects of food-related research. The journal is currently indexed in databases including Scopus, SCIE (Web of Science), and PubMed.

2024 Impact Factor: 5.1

2024 CiteScore: 8.7

Time to First Decision: 14.9 Days

Acceptance to Publication: 2.6 Days