Researchers map the social side of sustainable food systems

A qualitative review published in Discover Sustainability has systematically mapped which social topics scientists and practitioners actually discuss when they write about social sustainability in food production and consumption. The research team, led by Sarah Kohane and colleagues, combined a PRISMA-based systematic literature search of peer-reviewed and grey literature in English and German, yielding 66 included documents, with a qualitative content analysis that clustered themes and visualised them in mind maps.

The review’s central finding is that perspectives on social sustainability vary across food value chain stages, actors, disciplines and geographic contexts. Social sustainability itself encompasses a wide range of topics, such as food poverty, participation and fair working conditions, which the authors note are often interpreted in context-specific ways. This variability, the review indicates, complicates the development of consistent frameworks and indicators for assessing social sustainability across the food system.

In the literature on food production, four clusters dominated. The first concerns the working conditions of farmers and employees. The second addresses farmers’ quality of life. The third covers the development of the agricultural sector itself, while the fourth examines the social impacts of farming on rural areas. Together, these clusters show that production-side discussions tend to centre on the people who grow food and the societies that host agriculture.

The consumption literature tells a different story. There, the dominant topics were nutrition-related basic needs, consumers’ knowledge and skills, consumers’ identity and habits, and participation. The mind maps organise these dispersed topics across food value chain stages and link them to broader societal dimensions such as equity and food culture, offering a visual synthesis of a field whose themes have been scattered across different literatures.

A performance analysis accompanying the thematic mapping assessed the geographical focus, disciplinary background and publication time trends of the reviewed literature. The authors position the resulting thematic map as a practical tool rather than a final answer: by identifying topics, thematic clusters and research gaps, it can inform discussions on social sustainability and support the further development of consistent frameworks and indicators for analysing it. As food value chains come under pressure to transform sustainably, the review provides a shared map of the social pillar, spanning food poverty, participation and fair working conditions, that researchers and policymakers can use to navigate the debate.

Subject of Research: A qualitative review mapping social sustainability topics in food production and consumption literature

Article Title: Mapping central elements of social sustainability in food production and consumption

Article References: Kohane, S., Kollmann, S., Galley, S., Bröcker, F., Storcksdieck genannt Bonsmann, S., & Priefer, C. (2026). Mapping central elements of social sustainability in food production and consumption. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04663-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04663-y

Keywords: social sustainability, food value chains, food production, food consumption, qualitative review, food poverty, working conditions, participation, mind maps, research gaps, Mapping, central