Education

Articles Resource Center How secure is our food supply? It’s easy to take our food supply system for granted, especially for those lucky enough not to have to worry about where their next meal’s coming from. But how secure are our global food systems? Are we guaranteed a future in which supermarket shelves are always overflowing, dams are always full, and good rains always bring abundant harvests? The answer, of course, is no. Now, more than ever before, our future food security is at risk. A new paper[1] by de Raymond et. al takes a close look at the concept of ‘systemic risk’ in relation to global food security. ‘Might food systems lastingly fail to supply, trade, and distribute food?’ ask the authors. ‘Might widespread unsustainable agricultural practices irreversibly alter...

Articles Resource Center Can food innovation help defeat hunger and malnutrition? Why is it that, despite rapid advances in technology, so many people in the world are still hungry in the 21st century? And how are scientists working with industry, agriculture and governments to tackle hunger and undernourishment? In 2015, the United Nations launched 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a universal call to action to end poverty, promote prosperity and protect the planet.[1]  SDG Goal 2 is ‘Zero Hunger’, and its aims include ending hunger and malnutrition, improving nutrition, and ensuring sustainable agriculture and food security by 2030. [2] But have any of these SDG targets been achieved, and what headway has been made since 2015? Slow progress, exacerbated by Covid-...

Articles Resource CenterThere are over 56 million stunted children in Africa. Can fortified foods help? It’s a distressing fact that young children the world over are just not getting the nutrients they need to grow and thrive. According to UNICEF, stunting affects 149 million children globally: ‘Stunting is the devastating result of poor nutrition in-utero and early childhood. Children suffering from stunting may never attain their full possible height and their brains may never develop to their full cognitive potential.’ [1]  In Africa, 56.6 million children under five are stunted, and in South Africa alone, stunting affects 1.5 million (almost three out of 10) children.[2]  Even more distressing is that stunting cannot be reversed, and has serious long...

Articles Resource Center Fixing 'Hidden Hunger' Have you heard of ‘hidden hunger’? This is a term often used to describe micronutrient malnutrition, a kind of undernourishment that happens when the intake (and absorption) of micronutrients such as zinc, iodine and iron is too low to sustain good health and development.[1] Shockingly, it’s estimated that hidden hunger affects more than two billion individuals worldwide – one in three people.[2]  A number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have a perilously high level of hidden hunger.[3] And according to the Global Hunger Index, of the 3.1 million child deaths that occur annually as a result of undernutrition, an estimated 1.1 million are caused by micronutrient deficiencies.[4] Persistent, chronic deficiencies of iron, zinc an...

Articles Resource Center Responsible Treats A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go down but consuming a high sugar intake can also lead to excessive energy consumption. Without adequate physical activity, excessive energy intake can lead to weight gain and obesity (an important risk factor for heart disease and diabetes). Astonishingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) names childhood obesity as one of the most serious public health issues of the 21st century which is a key reason why Unilever wants to ensure that consumers use sugar responsibly, while also matching consumers’ taste preferences. Given the challenging climate of childhood obesity and social media's impact, we're working to raise awareness about the importance of responsible treats for kids, as descri...

Articles Resource CenterWhy we should eat more plants The way we grow and produce food continues to negatively impact the current global food system. Its impact is far reaching as it contributes to malnutrition as well as low-quality diets that ultimately result in poor health outcomes. Moreover, eating the same foods repeatedly is boring our palate and harming the planet. Mealtime monotony is a global issue as 75% of the global food supply comes from only 12 plant and five animal species. Just three (rice, maize, wheat) make up nearly 60% of plant-based calories despite there being up to 50,000 edible plants species. This not only bores our palates but excludes many valuable sources of nutrition while taking excessive amount of resource from the planet and harmin...