Résumé
The European candidate Partnership Sustainable Food Systems [1] focuses on the needed transition towards sustainable food systems (SFS) via system approaches [2]. However, this makes only sense if we understand what sustainable food systems are and how they function. Sustainability is defined as ‘whatever we do, we should not compromise future generations’ (Brundtland report, 1987). Hence, SFS are systems that have the capacity to endlessly evolve, continuously providing affordable, safe, healthy, delicious, functional foods for all people in their various cultural settings, and produced in an environmental-friendly manner. This is what the Partnership SFS strives for in all Europe regions, by changing the way (what) we eat, how we process and supply, how we connect ourselves to food systems, and how we govern them [1]. The implications for new developments in Food Science and Technology (FST) are numerous. First, these target an efficient usage and reusage of biomass in time (in our open thermodynamic planetary system fuelled by solar energy). Secondly, the handling of all diverse resources and food products respects both upper and lower limits for all environmental, social, economic and health indicators. Third, food process-structure-function relationships are considered in robust and performing food systems from a broader perspective. This includes playing fields (context), players (food actors), pieces (resources, products, waste, services), moves (food chain activities), rules (food laws, incentives…), duration (e.g. in terms of renewing resources) and outcomes (win/lose); i.e. the seven building blocks of a game [3]. Several case studies are presented that provide new research questions for the future Partnership and serve to exchange insights in FST with Central and Eastern European Countries.