FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024. Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. Rome: FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO 2024; 286 p. ISBN 978-92-5-138882-2. The theme of this year’s report focuses on the financing to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Targets 2.1 and 2.2 (financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms). The report provides a definition of financing for food security and nutrition and the guidance to implement it. To support such implementation, the five participating organizations commit to advocate for, and support, data development for a better global accounting system of financing for food security and nutrition. There are also recommendations regarding the efficient use of innovative financing tools and reforms to the food security and nutrition financing architecture. Establishing a common definition of financing for food security and nutrition, and methods for its tracking, measurement and implementation, is an important first step towards sustainably increasing the financing flows needed to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, and to ensure access to healthy diets for all.

Pesticide residues in food 2023 Evaluation part I – Residues. Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues. Rome. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization 2024; 2933 p. ISBN (FAO) 978-92-5-138770-2 ISBN (WHO) 978-92-4-009018-7 (electronic version) ISBN (WHO) 978-92-4-009019-4 (Print version). The Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) comprises the FAO Panel on Pesticide Residues and the WHO Core Assessment Group. The WHO Core Assessment Group is responsible for reviewing pesticide toxicological data and estimating acceptable daily intake (ADI) and acute reference doses (ARfDs) and characterizing other toxicological criteria. The FAO Panel on Pesticide Residues reviews the results of a range of studies including residue field trials and processing studies. These studies, called evaluations, are conducted for each individual pesticide and published in this report for the benefit of national governments who may use the information while undertaking national assessments.

Residue evaluation of certain veterinary drugs. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, 98th Meeting 20-29 February 2024. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization 2024; 120 p. ISBN (FAO) 978-92-5-139126-6 ISBN (WHO) 978-92-4-010141-8 (electronic version) ISBN (WHO) 978-92-4-010142-5 (print version). This volume of FAO JECFA Monographs contains residue evaluation of certain veterinary drugs prepared at the 98th Meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), held from 20 to 29 February 2024. This JECFA meeting was convened specifically to consider residues of veterinary drugs in food-producing animal species. The tasks for the Committee were to further elaborate principles for evaluating the safety of residues of veterinary drugs in food and for establishing acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and/or acute reference doses (ARfDs), and to recommend maximum residue limits (MRLs) for substances when they are administered to food-producing animals in accordance with good veterinary practice (GVP) in the use of veterinary drugs. The present volume contains monographs on the evaluations of residue data of substances scheduled for evaluation at the request of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food. A summary of the recommendations on compounds is also presented in this report. The enclosed monographs provided the scientific basis for the recommendations of MRLs.

INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE COUNCIL (ISC)

Snapshots of Reform. Researcher Evaluation within Science Organizations. Paris: International Science Council 2024; 33 p. ISBN: 979-8-9859206-3-5. This report is a joint publication by the Global Young Academy (GYA), the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) and the International Science Council (ISC). Derived from desk-based research, surveys, and interviews, this report provides insights into the current state of researcher evaluation. The diverse perspectives captured highlight both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach is neither feasible nor desirable. The report finds that our organizations can play a role in supporting the reform of researcher evaluation through: championing missing voices, lending the credibility needed to put reform on the agenda, supporting interventions that have reached their “tipping point”, protecting researcher mobility within the global system and promoting the exchange of ideas and lessons.

UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)

Navigating New Horizons: A global foresight report on planetary health and human wellbeing. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme 2024; 108 p. ISBN: 978-92-807-4166-7. This report, made jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Science Council (ISC), identifies and assesses the so-called “signals of change” – early symptoms or indications of changes that could result in potential disruptions or important developments on the horizon for which the world may need to prepare. It also discusses eight critical shifts (or emerging phenomena) that are accelerating the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, and some of the interconnections between them. These shifts include humanity’s degradation of the natural world, the rapid development of technologies such as AI, competition for natural resources, widening inequalities and declining trust in institutions. Eighteen accompanying signals of change – identified by hundreds of global experts through regional and stakeholder consultations that included youth – offer a deeper glimpse into potential disruptions, both positive and negative, that the world must prepare for.

Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record. Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again). Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme 2023; 108 p. ISBN: 978-92-807-4098-1. The Emissions Gap Report (EGR) is UNEP’s spotlight report launched annually in advance of the annual Climate negotiations. The EGR tracks the gap between where global emissions are heading with current country commitments and where they ought to be to limit warming to 1.5°C. This year’s report finds that there has been progress since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. Greenhouse gas emissions in 2030, based on policies in place, were projected to increase by 16 per cent at the time of the agreement’s adoption. Today, the projected increase is 3 per cent. However, predicted 2030 greenhouse gas emissions still must fall by 28 per cent for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42 per cent for the 1.5°C pathway. As things stand, fully implementing unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) made under the Paris Agreement would put the world on track for limiting temperature rise to 2.9°C above pre-industrial levels this century. Fully implementing conditional NDCs would lower this to 2.5°C. The EGR report calls for all nations to accelerate economy-wide, low-carbon development transformations. Countries with greater capacity and responsibility for emissions will need to take more ambitious action and support developing nations as they pursue low-emissions development growth.

EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY (EFSA)

EFSA Scientific Committee, More S.J, Benford D, Hougaard Bennekou S, et al. Guidance on risk–benefit assessment of foods. EFSA Journal 2024, 22(7), e8875. The EFSA Scientific Committee has updated its 2010 Guidance on risk–benefit assessment (RBA) of foods. While it retains the stepwise RBA approach, it provides additional methods for complex assessments, such as multiple chemical hazards and all relevant health effects impacting different population subgroups. The updated guidance includes approaches for systematic identification, prioritisation and selection of hazardous and beneficial food components. It also offers updates relevant to characterising adverse and beneficial effects, such as measures of effect size and dose–response modelling. The guidance expands options for characterising risks and benefits, incorporating variability, uncertainty, severity categorisation and ranking of different (beneficial or adverse) effects. The impact of different types of health effects is assessed qualitatively or quantitatively, depending on the problem formulation, scope of the RBA question and data availability. Additional approaches are presented, such as probability of all relevant effects and/or effects of given severities and their integration using severity weight functions. The update includes practical guidance on reporting results, interpreting outcomes and communicating the outcome of an RBA, considering consumer perspectives and responses to advice.

EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA), Turck D, Bohn T, Castenmiller J. et al. Guidance on the scientific requirements for an application for authorisation of a novel food in the context of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. EFSA Journal 2024, 22(9): e8961. The European Commission requested EFSA to update the scientific guidance for the preparation of applications for authorisation of novel foods, previously developed following the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods. This document provides advice on the scientific information needed to be submitted by the applicant towards demonstrating the safety of the novel food. Requirements pertain to the description of the novel food, production process, compositional data, specifications, proposed uses and use levels and anticipated intake of the novel food. Furthermore, information needed in sections on the history of use of the novel food and/or its source, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, toxicological information, nutritional information and allergenicity is also described. The applicants are also required to integrate and interpret the data presented in the different sections to provide their overall considerations on how the information supports the safety of the novel food under the proposed conditions of use. Where potential health hazards have been identified, they are to be discussed in relation to the anticipated intake of the novel food and the proposed target populations.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

Manual for plague surveillance, diagnosis, prevention and control. Geneva: World Health Organization 2024; 92 p. ISBN 978-92-4-009042-2 (electronic version) ISBN 978-92-4-009043-9 (print version). This manual provides comprehensive information on plague epidemiology and recommendations for surveillance, diagnosis, clinical management, and prevention. It also aligns with WHO’s proposals from the 75th World Health Assembly to enhance global health emergency preparedness and response. Key revisions include the use of rapid diagnostic tests in varied contexts, the inclusion of fluoroquinolones as a first-line treatment option, and updated protocols for personal protective equipment when handling plague-infected corpses. These recommendations were published in 2021 and are based on evidence reviewed during an international expert meeting in 2020. This manual is developed for clinicians and public health professionals who may be tasked with ensuring preparedness or response. This manual is also developed to inform the policy- and decision-makers responsible for developing national policies and guideline documents as well as for making purchasing arrangements and implementing training programmes.

Clinical practice guidelines for influenza. Geneva: World Health Organization 2024; 241 p. ISBN 978-92-4-009775-9 (electronic version) ISBN 978-92-4-009776-6 (print version). This WHO Clinical practice guideline for influenza is an update and expansion from the previously published WHO guideline on the clinical management of patients with severe influenza or at risk of severe influenza. These updated guidelines provide recommendations on the management of both severe and non-severe influenza and include recommendations on the use of antiviral medications to prevent influenza virus infection in individuals exposed to the virus in the previous 48 hours. This update applies to patients with seasonal influenza viruses, pandemic influenza viruses and novel influenza A viruses known to cause severe illness in infected humans. This update also includes baseline risk estimates for hospitalization and death and proposed definitions of patients at high or extremely high risk of developing severe influenza, to enable the recommendations to be targeted appropriately. The guidelines are designed primarily for health care providers who manage patients with influenza virus infection. The guidelines can be applied at all levels of the health system including community-based care, primary care, emergency departments and hospital wards. These guidelines will also serve as a reference source for policymakers, health managers and health facility administrators to support the development of national, regional and local guidelines for epidemic and pandemic preparedness.

Guidance on wastewater and solid waste management for manufacturing of antibiotics. Geneva: World Health Organization 2024; 79 p. ISBN 978-92-4-009725-4 (electronic version) ISBN 978-92-4-009726-1 (print version). The purpose of this guidance is to provide an independent scientific basis for the determination and inclusion of targets in the binding instruments of different target audiences to prevent the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. The scope of this Guidance covers human health-based targets to reduce the risk of emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance as well as targets for ecotoxicological risks for aquatic life caused by all antibiotics intended for human, animal or plant use. It covers all steps from the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulation into finished products, including primary packaging. Guidance applies to both liquid and solid waste with a focus on liquid effluent, run-off and discharges to land. Assessment covers risks for selection of resistance by antibiotics before and after dilution in recipient water bodies and also release of resistant bacteria. Separate assessments are needed for manufacturing sites producing more than one API or finished product. The target audiences for this guidance are: regulatory bodies (national or regional) responsible for the regulation of pharmaceutical product manufacturing or wastewater and solid waste (in countries or regions that manufacture), procurement teams or agencies of antibiotics for human, animal and plant use, entities responsible for generic substitution schemes and reimbursement decisions, third-party audit and inspection bodies, industrial actors in all stages of the antibiotic production chain and their collective organizations and initiatives, investors in the sector, and waste and wastewater management services that handle antibiotic waste.