Comparing sustainability claims with assurance in organic agriculture standards

© 2019, © 2019 Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Inc. Voluntary organic standard-setting organisations (SSOs) depend upon public trust in the truth claims implied by their labels: that the product in question has been produced using organic methods. They create and maintain this trust through assurance frameworks based on third-party verification of compliance with organic standards. It is therefore potentially problematic if an SSO makes additional claims that are not capable of being supported by their assurance frameworks. We investigate the claims made about the sustainability of organic agriculture by three voluntary organic SSOs, compared with assurance provisions within their standards. The analysis covers Australia, which has 53 per cent of the world\u27s certified organic farmland; and is extended internationally by including the IFOAM standard, with which a further 49 organic standards are affiliated worldwide. We find that while these standards generally contain principles and requirements that support sustainability claims, they lack well-specified means of verification in most cases other than the ‘core’ claims to exclude synthetic chemical inputs and genetically modified organisms. This assurance gap creates the risk of a consumer backlash. We discuss two ways to mitigate this risk: by strengthening verification within standards; and/or by employing new agricultural information and communication technologies to support claims outside the certification process

Sociodemographic Variation in Consumption Patterns of Sustainable and Nutritious Seafood in Australia

National dietary guidelines (DGs) consistently recommend consuming seafood for health benefits, however, the sustainability of increasing seafood consumption is often challenged. Seafood products vary in environmental performance as well as health benefits, yet there is no information integrating the health and ecological impacts of different seafood choices. The first step in optimising improved health and environmental outcomes is to examine more closely the types of seafood being consumed at population and individual levels, to develop the means to increase the intake of seafood that is optimal for human health and the environment. The purpose of this analysis was to better understand the specific types and amounts of seafood consumed by the Australian population, and by socioeconomic subgroups within the population, to determine the relative nutritional content and sustainability of seafood consumed by these groups. Secondary analysis of the Australian Health Survey (AHS) (2011–2013), which reached 32,000 people (25,000 households) was undertaken. The majority of respondents (83%) did not consume any seafood on the day of the survey. Results indicated the proportion of seafood consumers was lowest among adults who were unemployed, had the least education and were the most socio-economically disadvantaged. Crustaceans and farmed fish with low omega 3-content, such as basa and tilapia, were identified as the least nutritious and least sustainable seafood categories. These two categories constituted a substantial amount of total seafood intake for the lowest socio-economic consumers, and over 50% for unemployed consumers. In contrast, consumers in the highest socio-demographic group consumed mainly high trophic level fish (moderate nutrition and sustainability) and farmed fish with high omega-3 content (high nutrition, moderate sustainability). Fewer than 1% of adults or children reported eating seafood identified as both more nutritious and less resource intensive, such as small pelagics or molluscs. Opportunities exist to increase seafood intakes to improve health outcomes by varying current seafood consumption patterns to maximise nutritional outcomes and minimise environmental impacts. Initiatives to promote the health and environmental benefits of seafood should be promoted at the population level, with targeted interventions for specific groups, and should encourage consumption of highly nutritious low resource intensive types of seafood

Will fish be part of future healthy and sustainable diets?

First paragraph: The adoption of healthy and sustainable diets and food systems is recognised as a means to address the global challenge of malnutrition and poor-quality diets, and unprecedented environmental damage from food production and consumption.1 Sustainable diets have also been recognised as a key strategy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Reducing consumption of animal-source foods is frequently presented as key to improving the sustainability of food systems.2 Fish and seafood can have a lower environmental impact and in many cases are considered more efficient than terrestrial animal production (albeit with wide variation) depending on the type of production or capture method,3 yet remain largely absent, or insufficiently articulated in the sustainable diets literature, rendering their future role in healthy diets unclear.4 This absence of specific consideration of fish and seafood extends to food security literature, in which the role of fish remains under-recognised and undervalued.5 Legitimate concerns exist regarding the environmental sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture systems; however, we argue that an overemphasis on the so-called doomsday portrayal of fish—which often dominates literature and the broader media—masks the myriad of positive contributions of the fisheries sector to nutrition and sustainability and limits its scope in contributing to healthy and sustainable food systems

Telomerecat: A ploidy-agnostic method for estimating telomere length from whole genome sequencing data.

Telomere length is a risk factor in disease and the dynamics of telomere length are crucial to our understanding of cell replication and vitality. The proliferation of whole genome sequencing represents an unprecedented opportunity to glean new insights into telomere biology on a previously unimaginable scale. To this end, a number of approaches for estimating telomere length from whole-genome sequencing data have been proposed. Here we present Telomerecat, a novel approach to the estimation of telomere length. Previous methods have been dependent on the number of telomeres present in a cell being known, which may be problematic when analysing aneuploid cancer data and non-human samples. Telomerecat is designed to be agnostic to the number of telomeres present, making it suited for the purpose of estimating telomere length in cancer studies. Telomerecat also accounts for interstitial telomeric reads and presents a novel approach to dealing with sequencing errors. We show that Telomerecat performs well at telomere length estimation when compared to leading experimental and computational methods. Furthermore, we show that it detects expected patterns in longitudinal data, repeated measurements, and cross-species comparisons. We also apply the method to a cancer cell data, uncovering an interesting relationship with the underlying telomerase genotype

Publisher Correction: Telomerecat: A ploidy-agnostic method for estimating telomere length from whole genome sequencing data.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper

Fisheries and Aquaculture Management and Food Security Policy Analysis

The relationship between seafood and food and nutrition security is becoming increasingly recognised in policy and practice, yet many governance instruments do not articulate this link, or do so in a limited context. Identifying the best practices for linking fisheries management and associated public health policies, will help inform future policy development and review, and ultimately improve a range of food system outcomes. This report outlines a review of governance instruments across relevant sectors for a select range of countries

Here\u27s the seafood Australians eat (and what we should be eating)

Many Australians are concerned with the sustainability of their seafood. While definitions of sustainability vary, according to government assessments, over 85% of seafood caught in Australia is sustainable. However, just because a fish is sustainably caught, it doesn\u27t make it the most nutritious and healthy option - and vice versa. For the first time, research has investigated the seafood Australians eat in terms of what\u27s best for us and the planet

Consuming sustainable seafood: Guidelines, recommendations and realities

Objective: Encouraging people to eat more seafood can offer a direct, cost-effective way of improving overall health outcomes. However, dietary recommendations to increase seafood consumption have been criticised following concern over the capacity of the seafood industry to meet increased demand, while maintaining sustainable fish stocks. The current research sought to investigate Australian accredited practising dietitians\u27 (APD) and public health nutritionists\u27 (PHN) views on seafood sustainability and their dietary recommendations, to identify ways to better align nutrition and sustainability goals. Design: A self-administered online questionnaire exploring seafood consumption advice, perceptions of seafood sustainability and information sources of APD and PHN. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected via open and closed questions. Quantitative data were analysed with χ2tests and reported using descriptive statistics. Content analysis was used for qualitative data. Setting: Australia. Subjects: APD and PHN were targeted to participate; the sample includes respondents from urban and regional areas throughout Australia. Results: Results indicate confusion around the concept of seafood sustainability and where to obtain information, which may limit health professionals\u27 ability to recommend the best types of seafood to maximise health and sustainability outcomes. Respondents demonstrated limited understanding of seafood sustainability, with 7·5 % (n 6/80) satisfied with their level of understanding. Conclusions: Nutrition and sustainability goals can be better aligned by increasing awareness on seafood that is healthy and sustainable. For health professionals to confidently make recommendations, or identify trade-offs, more evidence-based information needs to be made accessible through forums such as dietetic organisations, industry groups and nutrition programmes

Linking production and consumption: The role for fish and seafood in a healthy and sustainable Australian diet

Fish and seafood consumption in Australia has been growing, yet the implications of this trend across the food system, from both a health and sustainability perspective have not been fully explored. This paper aims to map out the fish and seafood food system in Australia, linking production and consumption, to articulate challenges and opportunities for enhancing the sector\u27s contribution to future healthy and sustainable diets. We conducted a secondary analysis of publicly available datasets on fish and seafood production and consumption, triangulated and supplemented with peer-reviewed and grey literature on environmental, economic and social sustainability issues throughout the food system. A key challenge for health is the high proportion of fish and seafood consumed as discretionary food, particularly among children. Key challenges for sustainability include the narrow focus on environmental sustainability (with little consideration of the other domains), and the focus on production with little consideration for sustainability throughout post-harvest handling, processing, retail, distribution and consumption. Key opportunities for health and sustainability include the innovative use of processing and packaging technology to maximise nutritional quality; creation of markets and supply chains for a greater diversity of underutilised fish and seafood species and processing by-products; and reductions in waste and loss throughout the entire supply chain