Corinna Hawkes, director of the Center for Food Policy at City University of London describes what exactly is meant when we're talking about a food systems approach and why is it so important as a means to ensure people eat healthily from a sustainable food system.

It' about the whole food chain or food web. A depiction illustrates the idea and gives a schematic view of everything that brings food from farm to fork from the inputs, all the way to eating and the waste disposal in between, and all the processing distribution and so on. As well as the interconnected dimensions, the things that drive that chain and the outcomes of that chain.

This systemic approach helps to understand the links, to think of connected solutions, in synergy. It also helps to highlight potential conflicts of interest between actors. In policy terms, it can also help to design cross-sectoral policies.