AI-Driven Sustainable Food Systems for Human and Planetary Health: Transforming Food Production, Nutrition, Consumption, and Policy
Food systems face growing pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss, resource constraints, food insecurity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and digital technologies are creating new opportunities to monitor, model, and transform food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and policy. Sustainable diets and planetary health approaches increasingly emphasize that nutrition, environmental sustainability, cultural acceptability, affordability, and equity should be addressed together. However, evidence remains fragmented across food science, nutrition, agriculture, environmental assessment, consumer research, tourism and hospitality, and data science. This Research Topic seeks to connect these disciplines and generate actionable knowledge for more sustainable, resilient, and health-promoting food systems.
The goal of this Research Topic is to examine how sustainable food systems can be redesigned to support both human and planetary health, with particular attention to artificial intelligence, sustainable nutrition, circular production, consumer behavior, and policy implementation. The collection will address a key challenge: how to translate technological innovation and sustainability principles into practical, safe, acceptable, and equitable food system solutions. Recent advances in machine learning, digital traceability, life cycle assessment, food waste valorization, sustainable processing, dietary assessment, and behavioral interventions provide new tools for this transformation. By bringing together empirical studies, reviews, methodological papers, and policy-oriented contributions, this Research Topic aims to clarify opportunities, limitations, and responsible pathways for AI-enabled and sustainability-driven change in food systems.
We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Policy and Practice Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, Brief Research Reports, and technology-focused contributions. Manuscripts may address: (1) sustainable diets, nutrition literacy, and dietary transitions; (2) AI and digital transformation in food systems; (3) circular food processing, food waste valorization, and sustainable production; (4) consumer behavior, food environments, tourism and hospitality, and equitable access; and (5) planetary health, climate resilience, and food policy. Interdisciplinary work linking nutrition, food science, agriculture, environmental assessment, public health, data science, tourism, hospitality, consumer research, and governance is particularly encouraged. Studies from diverse geographic, cultural, and income settings are encouraged, including research from low- and middle-income countries.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
- Brief Research Report
- Community Case Study
- Conceptual Analysis
- Data Report
- Editorial
- FAIR² Data
- FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
- General Commentary
- Hypothesis and Theory
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence; sustainable food systems; sustainable diets; planetary health; food waste; circular food processing; consumer behavior; food policy; climate resilience
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
