Enhancing Food and Nutrition Literacy: A Key Strategy for Reducing Food Waste and Improving Diet Quality

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The main question addressed by the research is Food and nutritional literacy can therefore be linked to household food waste and not just to diet quality. 

I consider the analysis very relevant and complete. However, I would like to have a description of the methodology of paper development because, without that information scientific community is not able to replicate the study. Compared with other published material, it's a very interesting and new perspective, little explored.

Methods shoud be improved. Authors should include a description of the methodology of paper development because, without that information scientific community is not able to replicate the study. 

Results shoud be better explained and discussion.

Conclusions must be presented with relation to scientific and practice achievement. Conclusions seem to be following the literature and reflection presented. However, we need to know how the literature review was conducted.

The references are appropriate. Regarding tables and figures, nothing to add.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English language shoud be improved.

Spelling mistakes were found.

Author Response

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Reviewer for its valuable comments and suggestions. The authors have responded to the comments and have revised their manuscript, trying to be as precise as possible in response to the suggestions to each point. The authors’ replies to the individual points raised are reported in Italic below.

Quality of English Language

( ) I am not qualified to assess the quality of English in this paper
( ) English very difficult to understand/incomprehensible
( ) Extensive editing of English language required
(x) Moderate editing of English language required
( ) Minor editing of English language required
( ) English language fine. No issues detected

 

The article was corrected from a grammatical point of view, and different sentences were rewritten.

 

 

 

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Is the content succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background and empirical research (if applicable) on the topic?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Are all the cited references relevant to the research?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods clearly stated?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Are the arguments and discussion of findings coherent, balanced and compelling?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
For empirical research, are the results clearly presented?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Is the article adequately referenced?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Are the conclusions thoroughly supported by the results presented in the article or referenced in secondary literature?	( )	( )	(x)	( )

 

 

The methodology underlying the manuscript has been added in the introduction. Bibliographic references, scheme, and figure were added. Section 4 was improved with original research paper and conclusions have been improved.

 

 

 

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The main question addressed by the research is Food and nutritional literacy can therefore be linked to household food waste and not just to diet quality. I consider the analysis very relevant and complete. However, I would like to have a description of the methodology of paper development because, without that information scientific community is not able to replicate the study. Compared with other published material, it's a very interesting and new perspective, little explored.

Thank you for your considerations and for appreciating the topic and the originality of the perspective. We followed your suggestions.

Methods should be improved. Authors should include a description of the methodology of paper development because, without that information scientific community is not able to replicate the study. 

The methodology underlying the manuscript has been added in the introduction. However, since this is not a systematic review, but a perspective one, we have not included all the keywords used for the search, and other details on the selection of articles, even considering previously published perspectives on the topic.

Results should be better explained and discussion.

These sections have been improved and integrated with other bibliographical references, with tables and diagrams.

Conclusions must be presented with relation to scientific and practice achievement. Conclusions seem to be following the literature and reflection presented. However, we need to know how the literature review was conducted.

In accordance with this observation, the conclusion has been rewritten.

The references are appropriate. Regarding tables and figures, nothing to add.

We thank you for this consideration.

English language should be improved.

Spelling mistakes were found.

The article was corrected from a grammatical point of view, and different sentences were rewritten.

 

Please see the attachment

 

 

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this review manuscript, the authors demonstrated the role of food and nutrition literacy in the genesis and prevention of food waste, which are mediated by socio-economic conditions.

The review manuscript is well organized and written and the conclusions are well-founded.  I recommend publication with major revision. I recommend publishing after major corrections:

Section 3: L147-154. I suggest building a Figure exploring the concepts of the three distinct levels ((Functional interactive, critical nutrition) and their interaction between them. The objective is to enhance this section.

Section 4: L194-196. I suggest adding a Table including a systemic review of section 4.1 to 4.3 (studies). The review manuscript has only 90 references.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Reviewer for its valuable comments and suggestions. The authors have responded to the comments and have revised their manuscript, trying to be as precise as possible in response to the suggestions to each point. The authors’ replies to the individual points raised are reported in Italic below.

Quality of English Language

(x) I am not qualified to assess the quality of English in this paper
( ) English very difficult to understand/incomprehensible
( ) Extensive editing of English language required
( ) Moderate editing of English language required
( ) Minor editing of English language required
( ) English language fine. No issues detected

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Is the content succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background and empirical research (if applicable) on the topic?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are all the cited references relevant to the research?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods clearly stated?	( )	(x)	( )	( )
Are the arguments and discussion of findings coherent, balanced and compelling?	( )	(x)	( )	( )
For empirical research, are the results clearly presented?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Is the article adequately referenced?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the conclusions thoroughly supported by the results presented in the article or referenced in secondary literature?	(x)	( )	( )	( )

 

The methodology underlying the manuscript has been added in the introduction. Section 4 was improved with original research paper and conclusions have been improved.

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this review manuscript, the authors demonstrated the role of food and nutrition literacy in the genesis and prevention of food waste, which are mediated by socio-economic conditions.

The review manuscript is well organized and written and the conclusions are well-founded.  I recommend publication with major revision. I recommend publishing after major corrections:

Section 3: L147-154. I suggest building a Figure exploring the concepts of the three distinct levels ((Functional interactive, critical nutrition) and their interaction between them. The objective is to enhance this section.

Following this suggestion, an original figure was inserted in this section.

Section 4: L194-196. I suggest adding a Table including a systemic review of section 4.1 to 4.3 (studies). The review manuscript has only 90 references.

As suggested, a table showing the original studies has been added to these sections.

 Please see the attachment

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The review article "Enhancing Food and Nutrition Literacy: A Key Strategy for Reducing Food Waste and Improving Diet Quality” is a comprehensive and well-structured article. Since the food waste is a large global problem, the topic of article and the article, are very interesting and could contribute to awareness of large domestic food waste production, as well as its reducing through different strategies. References used in this article are relevant and new, mostly in last five years. The article can be accepted in present form.

Author Response

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Reviewer for its valuable comments.

Please see the attachment

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

General comments

The authors of the manuscript have made a good effort to review the literature related to the topic and generate interesting themes. The review can be further improved by improving the paragraph structures and merging 3-4 line paragraphs into a single paragraph. The abstract and conclusion part of the review needs the author's attention to improve statements to summarize arguments presented in the manuscript. The manuscript plagiarism is more than the review paper's recommended standard. In the paper body, several paragraphs seem to be only rephrased from another source which does not present any novelty.

Specific comments

Abstract, Line 21-24. The sentence presents the opposite of the fact presented in the body of the manuscript. The body of the manuscript, states with references that poor segments of the society have better food management practices and waste less food while richer people tend to waste more food, and similar other gender and age-wise segmentation.

Rephrase this statement according to the data presented in the paper.

 

Line 53, Inducing personal knowledges.  It should be better if written, 'inducing personal knowledge'.

The presentation can be improved to make lines 66-89 a single paragraph.

Line 174, Western societies. It is better to capitalize the word societies.

Line 189. Rephrase the heading, 'Socio-economic conditions, mediate food and nutrition literacy effects'

Line 222, correct the spelling, fresch.

Lines 242-243. This is the topic sentence of the paragraph. Rephrase the sentence to make it simple, precise, and meaningful

Line 295, Write the sentence like, Therefore, it is clear that on a.......

Line 330. .... [47,53] Close the sentence with a full stop. Merge the sentences 330-341 with the same paragraph.

Conclusions, Line 420.

The review discusses food loss from production to end consumption but the concluding remark focuses only on consumer education which misses the greater part of the paper. Rephrasing of the statement is required to give a general conclusion of the manuscript topics covered.

Figures.

Fig1. Improve the fig resolution

 

Line 277. Relation between food/nutrition literacy and the environment

Adding here a flowchart or a diagram related to the heading about the type of waste and gases released into the environment will improve the paper presentation.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English language of the manuscript requires minor editing

Author Response

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Reviewer for its valuable comments and suggestions. The authors have responded to the comments and have revised their manuscript, trying to be as precise as possible in response to the suggestions to each point. The authors’ replies to the individual points raised are reported in Italic below.

Quality of English Language

( ) I am not qualified to assess the quality of English in this paper
( ) English very difficult to understand/incomprehensible
( ) Extensive editing of English language required
( ) Moderate editing of English language required
(x) Minor editing of English language required
( ) English language fine. No issues detected

 

The article was corrected from a grammatical point of view, and different sentences were rewritten.

 

 

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Is the content succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background and empirical research (if applicable) on the topic?	( )	(x)	( )	( )
Are all the cited references relevant to the research?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods clearly stated?	( )	( )	( )	(x)
Are the arguments and discussion of findings coherent, balanced and compelling?	( )	(x)	( )	( )
For empirical research, are the results clearly presented?	( )	( )	( )	(x)
Is the article adequately referenced?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the conclusions thoroughly supported by the results presented in the article or referenced in secondary literature?	( )	(x)	( )	( )

 

The methodology underlying the manuscript has been added in the introduction. Bibliographic references, scheme, and figure were added to the discussion sections 3, 4 and 5. A table with main results of the original studies has been added. Conclusions has been rewritten.

 

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors of the manuscript have made a good effort to review the literature related to the topic and generate interesting themes. The review can be further improved by improving the paragraph structures and merging 3-4 line paragraphs into a single paragraph. The abstract and conclusion part of the review needs the author's attention to improve statements to summarize arguments presented in the manuscript. The manuscript plagiarism is more than the review paper's recommended standard. In the paper body, several paragraphs seem to be only rephrased from another source which does not present any novelty.

Thank you for your advice, the abstract has been corrected and the conclusions modified completely. The paragraphs have been merged and reworded, as suggested. We tried to decrease the repetition rate.

Specific comments

Abstract, Line 21-24. The sentence presents the opposite of the fact presented in the body of the manuscript. The body of the manuscript, states with references that poor segments of the society have better food management practices and waste less food while richer people tend to waste more food, and similar other gender and age-wise segmentation. Rephrase this statement according to the data presented in the paper.

The sentence has been reformulated.

Line 53, Inducing personal knowledges.  It should be better if written, 'inducing personal knowledge'.

The word has been changed.

The presentation can be improved to make lines 66-89 a single paragraph.

A single paragraph has been done, as suggested.

Line 174, Western societies. It is better to capitalize the word societies.

We did the correction.

Line 189. Rephrase the heading, 'Socio-economic conditions, mediate food and nutrition literacy effects'

We rephrased the heading.

Line 222, correct the spelling, fresch.

The correction has been done.

Lines 242-243. This is the topic sentence of the paragraph. Rephrase the sentence to make it simple, precise, and meaningful.

The sentence has been reformulated.

Line 295, Write the sentence like, Therefore, it is clear that on a.......

The changed has been done.

Line 330. .... [47,53] Close the sentence with a full stop. Merge the sentences 330-341 with the same paragraph.

Suggested changes has been done.

Conclusions, Line 420.

The review discusses food loss from production to end consumption but the concluding remark focuses only on consumer education which misses the greater part of the paper. Rephrasing of the statement is required to give a general conclusion of the manuscript topics covered.

The conclusion has been improved, reviewing the main points addressed in the manuscript.

Figures.

Fig1. Improve the fig resolution.

Figure 1 has been changed to one with better resolution.

Line 277. Relation between food/nutrition literacy and the environment

Adding here a flowchart or a diagram related to the heading about the type of waste and gases released into the environment will improve the paper presentation.

A diagram, and bibliographical references have been added to this paragraph.

Please see the attachment.

 

Reviewer 5 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a perspective type article, I enjoyed reading it, it is a prudent discussion in these times where it is necessary to increase efforts to reduce food waste. Here are some observations:

Line 11 to 13 in your abstract you can begin like this: "Excessive food purchases, improper storage, incorrect food preparation, and the disposal of non-expired products contribute significantly to household food waste"

Line 30: In the quotation brackets, you should not add spaces between one number and another. For example: change [1- 3] to [1-3], or [1, 2] to [1,2]. If the instructions to authors specify that you do, ignore this comment.

Line 45-46: "Reducing food waste is an ethical imperative; saving just one-fourth of the discarded food could potentially provide sustenance for 870 million hungry people."

Line 66-67: Food loss or waste can occur at various stages along the entire food chain, including production, handling and storage, processing, distribution, and sale and consumption [15, 16].

Line 111:  "To reduce the generation of household food waste, it is essential to comprehend the numerous drivers and causes involved [27]."

 

 

Line:141-143: "In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the concepts of food and nutrition literacy [10]. These concepts have evolved from the broader domain of health literacy, reflecting the necessity for individuals to orient themselves in the complex issues of food and nutrition, through specialized knowledge and skills [42]."

Line 172-173: I think it looks more fluid if you put it that way: "In recent times, efforts have been made to create tools for assessing food and nutrition literacy among adults in Western societies. These tools are designed to evaluate individuals' proficiency in comprehending texts or figures and responding to associated questions"

172-186: I think it would be very enriching if the authors would describe in more detail the three measurement instruments they mention

Line 235: Add which country you are talking about

Line 255-256: Confirming this hypothesis, Conrad's 2018 study reported an association between good-quality diets and increased amounts of food waste among American adults [43].

Line 281, add comma (products,)

Line 276-295-

4.3. Relation between food/nutrition literacy and the environment

If possible, please add more studies linking food literacy and ecological eating behavior towards sustainability. This is because a single study [cite 72] is not sufficient support to assert the relationship between food literacy and ecological eating behavior towards sustainability.

Line 315: School- based interventions: What are the challenges of setting up school-based interventions? Could you add it to this section?

Line 355: In 2007, the UK embarked on a major campaign entitled "Love Food Hate Waste" led by "The Waste and Resource Action Program" (WRAP)

Line 392: Specify in which countries food labeling includes aspects of sustainability, as this could be a reference for researchers in other countries, in case they read your paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Reviewer for its valuable comments and suggestions. The authors have responded to the comments and have revised their manuscript, trying to be as precise as possible in response to the suggestions to each point. The authors’ replies to the individual points raised are reported in Italic below.

Quality of English Language

( ) I am not qualified to assess the quality of English in this paper
( ) English very difficult to understand/incomprehensible
( ) Extensive editing of English language required
( ) Moderate editing of English language required
(x) Minor editing of English language required
( ) English language fine. No issues detected

 

The article was corrected from a grammatical point of view, and different sentences were rewritten.

 

 

 

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Is the content succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background and empirical research (if applicable) on the topic?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are all the cited references relevant to the research?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods clearly stated?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the arguments and discussion of findings coherent, balanced and compelling?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
For empirical research, are the results clearly presented?	( )	( )	( )	(x)
Is the article adequately referenced?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the conclusions thoroughly supported by the results presented in the article or referenced in secondary literature?	( )	(x)	( )	( )

Thanks for your suggestion, Conclusions has been rewritten.

This is a perspective type article, I enjoyed reading it, it is a prudent discussion in these times where it is necessary to increase efforts to reduce food waste. Here are some observations:

Line 11 to 13 in your abstract you can begin like this: "Excessive food purchases, improper storage, incorrect food preparation, and the disposal of non-expired products contribute significantly to household food waste"

The sentence has been reformulated as suggested.

Line 30: In the quotation brackets, you should not add spaces between one number and another. For example: change [1- 3] to [1-3], or [1, 2] to [1,2]. If the instructions to authors specify that you do, ignore this comment.

Spaces has been deleted.

Line 45-46: "Reducing food waste is an ethical imperative; saving just one-fourth of the discarded food could potentially provide sustenance for 870 million hungry people."

The sentence has been reformulated.

Line 66-67: Food loss or waste can occur at various stages along the entire food chain, including production, handling and storage, processing, distribution, and sale and consumption [15, 16].

The sentence has been reformulated.

Line 111:  "To reduce the generation of household food waste, it is essential to comprehend the numerous drivers and causes involved [27]."

The sentence has been reformulated.

 Line:141-143: "In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the concepts of food and nutrition literacy [10]. These concepts have evolved from the broader domain of health literacy, reflecting the necessity for individuals to orient themselves in the complex issues of food and nutrition, through specialized knowledge and skills [42]."

The sentences have been reformulated.

Line 172-173: I think it looks more fluid if you put it that way: "In recent times, efforts have been made to create tools for assessing food and nutrition literacy among adults in Western societies. These tools are designed to evaluate individuals' proficiency in comprehending texts or figures and responding to associated questions"

The sentence has been changed.

172-186: I think it would be very enriching if the authors would describe in more detail the three measurement instruments they mention.

All measurement instruments descriptions have been improved.

Line 235: Add which country you are talking about

We add specific information.

Line 255-256: Confirming this hypothesis, Conrad's 2018 study reported an association between good-quality diets and increased amounts of food waste among American adults [43].

We corrected the sentence.

Line 281, add comma (products,)

Comma has been inserted.

Line 276-295-

4.3. Relation between food/nutrition literacy and the environment

If possible, please add more studies linking food literacy and ecological eating behavior towards sustainability. This is because a single study [cite 72] is not sufficient support to assert the relationship between food literacy and ecological eating behavior towards sustainability.

Other studies and one figure have been added. A table showing the original studies of section 4 has been added.

Line 315: School- based interventions: What are the challenges of setting up school-based interventions? Could you add it to this section?

This consideration has been inserted.

Line 355: In 2007, the UK embarked on a major campaign entitled "Love Food Hate Waste" led by "The Waste and Resource Action Program" (WRAP)

The correction was done.

Line 392: Specify in which countries food labeling includes aspects of sustainability, as this could be a reference for researchers in other countries, in case they read your paper.

This line refers to the food guidelines, and following the suggestion we have added the countries in which sustainability aspects are reported and inserted the bibliographic reference.

Please see the attachment

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Revised version correspondents to the suggestions.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

REPORT

In this review manuscript is interesting for Sustainability of food system, and the authors demonstrated the role of food and nutrition literacy in the genesis and prevention of food waste, which are mediated by socio-economic conditions. The authors added the Figure 4, aborting the nutrition literacy concepts as suggested. Table 1 has also been added, summarizing the results of original research articles on the effects of food and nutrition literacy in relation to diet quality, household food waste and environmental sustainability. Future perspective on public education and information strategies to reduce food waste was reported in manuscript. The review manuscript is well organized and written and the conclusions are well-founded.  I recommend publication and accept in present form.

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The improved version of the paper presents the topic very well. It is suitable for publication.