Visualising food system outcomes for policymaking decisions in Ireland and the UK

The food system in Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK) is damaging ecosystems, and leading to societal dietary inequalities and widespread systematic waste. The unsustainability of the food system requires transformative change, which takes into account the entire system. Food policymakers should address health, environmental and economic factors, striving towards progress across these outcomes. However, trade-offs are inevitable in food system transformation, but synergies also exist. Thus, policymakers must take an integrated approach so that policies enhance current beneficial outcomes without exacerbating negative ones. Policymaking decisions must be evidence-based. Interoperability of multiple datasets is needed so that the efficacy of interventions can be assessed. Yet, much of the data fails to meet the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. To this end, some data visualisation tools have been developed to visually present otherwise siloed datasets in an interoperable format. One activity in the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems project is to create a new analytical tool to help assess food system outcomes in Ireland and the UK. Multi-stakeholder partnerships have been formed with food system stakeholders to co-design the tool via a survey, focus groups and workshop. The resulting visualiser tool will allow for the baseline of the sustainability status across Ireland and the UK to be assessed as well as monitoring the effectiveness of any interventions. Presenting multiple datasets in a novel, interoperable, visual format will help policymakers make informed decisions concerning the food system to guide coordinated government and private sector policy.