Did You Know? Diets matter. A food innovation may increase production, improve convenience or extend shelf life - and still make diets worse. Before introducing a food technology, innovators should understand three things: 1. The Culture Food is culture and identity, not simply a commodity or a source of nutrients. Innovators must understand how people grow, prepare, share, value and choose food. A technically sound innovation may achieve limited adoption - or fail to improve diets - if it does not fit local tastes, traditions, beliefs and everyday practices. 2. The Policy Environment Innovators must understand what governments are trying to achieve through food, nutrition and public-health policies. New technologies should reinforce priorities such as food safety, fortification, salt and sugar reduction, elimination of trans fats, healthier school meals and stronger local food systems - not undermine them. 3. The Plate The most important question is: What does the innovation do to the plate? Does it improve dietary diversity, nutrient density, food safety and access to healthy foods? Or does it displace more nutritious foods, increase salt, sugar or unhealthy fats, and make healthy diets less accessible? The true test of a food technology is not only whether it works, but whether it respects food culture, supports public priorities and contributes to healthier, more sustainable diets. * P.S. This was my favourite question from the panel: What should innovators understand before introducing new food technologies into food-insecure or nutrition-sensitive settings? Thank you, Blake, for prompting such an important and timely discussion - and thank you, Katia, for the mention. Go Cornell! linkedin.com/posts/kfacchett… #ChildNutrition | #HealthyDiets | #DietMetrics | #NutritionMonitoring | #PublicHealth | #ChildHealth | #DietQuality | #NutritionResearch | #GlobalNutrition | @IFT | @IITA_CGIAR