This document discusses fish in food systems and dietary transitions. It provides background on the author and their expertise in areas related to poverty, nutrition, food value chains, and food policies. It then examines drivers of change in food systems like climate change, dietary changes, supermarketization, and food trade. Barriers to fish development discussed include high domestic prices, difficulties with market integration and storage, challenges supplying supermarkets, and postharvest losses. The benefits of fish consumption for heart health are also noted.

1. Fish in Food Systems
Understanding Dietary Transitions
Ruerd Ruben

2. Background
 Chair Impact Assessment for Food Systems
 Research Coordinator Global Food & Nutrition Security
 Board member A4NH / IFPRI research fellow
 Expertise areas:
● Poverty & Nutrition
● Commodity certification
● Agro-food Value Chains
● Food Policies
2

3. Food supply chain
3

4. FAO-HLPE Food Systems & Nutrition
4

5. Dengerink, van Berkum and Ruben (2018)
Food system drivers of change

6. Food Web

7. Drivers of food system change
Food supply systems
Agricultural
production
Food
storage,
transport
and trade
Food
transformation
Food retail &
provisioning
Food environment
Consumer
Diet
quality

8. “Every country in the world faces
serious health problems linked to:
- too little nutrient-rich food
- too much energy-dense food.”
Triple burden of Malnutrition

9. Health benefits from Foods
Dariush Mozaffarian Circulation. 2016;133:187-225

10. Climate change Dietary changesSupermarketization
Drivers of Change

11. Dietary change & Food Trade
Staples & tubers ↓
F&V, dairy, eggs, fish, pork ↑
Processed foods ↑
Rising Food Import Bill:
25 % of calories in SSA are imported

12. Food sourcing (by class and location)
GLOPAN, 2016)

13. Food expenditures & shopping habits
Market provides 2/3 of food intake Shift from Open to Supermarkets

14. Global burden of diseases (risk factors)
A4NH: one US$ investment in better diets means
US$ 16 savings in health care costs

15. Food Value Funnel
- Many smallholder producers
- Local traders
- Aggregation
- Processing
- Few Retailers
- Large number of consumers
‘Missing Middle’
Category Management
Food Value Chains: Actors & Contracts

16. Non-profit Government Commercial
Food people
can pay for
Food people
want
Food the
value chain
can deliver
Food the
planet can
sustain
Food people
need
Reshaping
Food Systems
A4NH Challenges

17. Food systems dynamics
Dairy, Meat, Fish,
Fresh Fruit Juices,
Beverages
Convenience
Foods
Diet/Functional/
Organic Foods
Snacks/Prepared
Meals
Carbohydrate
Staples
Surviving Mass
Market
Convenience
Food Service
Snacking
Quality
Hygiene
High
Technology
Africa (Sub-
Sahara)
India, China,
SE Asia
Latin America
Eastern
Europe
N. America, Japan, W.
Europe, Australia
AVAILABILITY
Government, laws, choice of suppliers
FOOD SAFETY
FOOD QUALITY
ETHICS
CHAIN
QUALITY

18. Fish = least consumed proteine
 eating one to two 3-ounce
servings of fatty fish a
week—salmon, herring,
mackerel, anchovies, or
sardines—reduces risk of
dying from heart disease
by 36 percent
 The omega-3 fats in fish
protect the heart against
the development of
deadly cardiac rhythm
disturbances. They also
lower blood pressure and
heart rate.

19. FISH in Food Systems
1. Consumer Demand
- Prices
- Preferences
- Taste & smell
2. Value Chains
- Market outlets
- Out of home consumption
- Processing (drying, curing, canning, freezing)
- Non-food use (> 35%)
3. Fish Policies for Improved Nutrition
- Population targeting (gender)
- Local sourcing
- Functional Food (cosmetics, medicine)

20. Constraints to Fish development
1.High (domestic) prices (+ some cheap imports)
2.Difficult market integration: Handling & Storage
3.Supermarket delivery
4.Supply chain certification (MSC/ASC)
5.Postharvest losses & quality degradation
6.School/office/factory menu’s
7.Out-of-home consumption / online + home delivery?

21. Thank you!
:
R Ruerd.ruben@wur.nl
RRuerd