Editorial: COVID-19 pandemic, food behaviour and consumption patterns

Abstract

With already 600 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 6 million recorded deaths, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), detected in Wuhan (China) in late 2019, is nowadays one of the most pressing global challenges facing humanity. In addition to significantly impacting health systems, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted food systems from farm to fork, with consequences for food and nutrition security at all levels (global, national, local, and individual). While a growing corpus of research examines the pandemic's disruption of food supply networks, the implications regarding food environments and consumer behavior are still widely overlooked, particularly in developing countries. Accordingly, this Research Topic intends to offer insight into the pandemic's influence on food buying behavior, nutrition, and eating habits and the consequences of these changes. It includes 10 papers on various issues (diet, food security, food affordability, food safety, shopping habits, food waste, etc.) and geographical areas (Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Canada, and India).