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Environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems – Considerations for food safety risk assessment









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    Book (series)
    Environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems
    Considerations for food safety risk assessment
    2025
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    Transforming agrifood systems is key to meeting the growing global food demand while reducing agriculture’s environmental impact. Environmental inhibitors can help reduce methane emissions from farming sectors like livestock and rice cultivation, and the loss of nitrogen from farmlands. While not yet in widespread use, methanogenesis inhibitors, nitrification inhibitors and urease inhibitors, are being explored for their capacity to both increase nitrogen use efficiency and reduce the impact of agriculture on climate change.Although various environmental inhibitors are currently in development, with some already in use across markets, potential food safety risks from residues in food products have not always been fully addressed. This publication proposes a food safety risk assessment process for environmental inhibitors addressing potential residue uptake and transfer into crops intended for human consumption and foods of animal origin.
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    Book (series)
    Food safety implications from the use of environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems 2023
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    The challenge of feeding a growing world population while responding to the climate crisis, requires development of practices and technologies to increase sustainability of agrifood systems and reduce harmful effects on the environment. Among those approaches, environmental inhibitors are used to improve the production efficiency of crops and livestock while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane or limiting the loss of nitrogen from cultivated fields and pastures. An inadvertent presence of environmental inhibitors in food commodities can raise health concerns as well as trade disruption if standards are not established. Challenges related to food safety risk assessment and management of these substances include the lack of internationally harmonized maximum residue limits (MRLs), agreed definition for environmental inhibitors and insufficient safety information for some compounds. This publication provides an overview of various synthetic and biological environmental inhibitors along with an analysis of possible food safety implications from their use. Regulatory frameworks relevant for environmental inhibitors in selected countries are presented as examples of current approaches being taken at national or regional level. Finally, food safety-related knowledge gaps are discussed together with some perspectives on how to move forward.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Sustainable nitrogen management in agrifood systems
    Report brief
    2025
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    The FAO report "Sustainable Nitrogen Management in Agrifood Systems" provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities related to nitrogen use in agrifood systems. The report explores solutions to enhance nitrogen use efficiency in crop and animal production and elaborates on the magnitude, sources, and pathways of nitrogen flows and losses, and associated environmental impacts such as eutrophication, acidification and biodiversity loss. The report suggests sector-specific approaches to enhance nutrient use efficiency, including the adoption of circular bioeconomy practices, and policy recommendations to promote sustainable nitrogen management. This in brief version summarizes the main messages, key actions and policy options for sustainable nitrogen management in agrifood systems.

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