Research Area: Food Safety, Water & Sanitation
Pandemics and food systems – towards a proactive food safety approach to disease prevention & management
Abstract Recent large-scale pandemics such as the covid19, H1N1, Swine flu, Ebola and the Nipah virus, which impacted human health and livelihoods, have come about due to inadequate food systems safeguards to detect, trace and eliminate threats arising from zoonotic diseases. Such diseases are transmitted...
Exploring Aflatoxin Contamination and Household-Level Exposure Risk in Diverse Indian Food Systems
Abstract The present study sought to identify household risk factors associated with aflatoxin contamination within and across diverse Indian food systems and to evaluate their utility in risk modeling. Samples (n = 595) of cereals, pulses, and oil seeds were collected from 160 households across...
Spatiotemporal Assessment of Post-Harvest Mycotoxin Contamination in Rural North Indian Food Systems
Abstract The spatiotemporal trends in aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), fumonisin B1 (FB1), and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation were analyzed in a range of food commodities (maize, groundnut, pearl millet, rice, and wheat) in village settings in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, India. Samples (n = 1549) were collected across six communities and six time points spanning...
Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India
The Indian growth story is a paradoxical one. Despite economic progress over the past two decades, regional inequality, food insecurity, and malnutrition problems persist. Simultaneously, recent trends in obesity along with micro-nutrient deficiency portend to a future public health crisis. This book explores various challenges...
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India 2020: Leveraging Agriculture to Achieve Zero Hunger
TCI’s 2020 report on Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India (FAN 2020) provides an analysis of India’s progress towards achieving the second sustainable development goal—zero hunger. Using district-level data and maps, the report highlights stark spatial differences in the extent of the hunger problem and identifies potential...
Dr. Shiuli Vanaja
Shiuli Vanaja earned her PhD in applied economics and management in 2020. She is now an assistant professor of economics at Azim Premji University in Bangalore. Her research interests lie in the field of development and resource economics, specifically the…
Dr. Rebecca Nelson
Rebecca Nelson is a professor at Cornell University’s School of Integrative Plant Science. She serves as scientific director for The McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program. Rebecca serves as co-chair of the Thematic Group on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems…
Dr. Anthony Wenndt
Dr. Anthony Wenndt is a technical specialist in food safety research at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. He earned his PhD in the field of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology in 2020. His research interests are the biology and…