Nuclear Technology Fights Hunger and Ensures Food Safety

Nuclear science and technology can help combat hunger and malnutrition, as well as improve food security and food safety.

There are various ways to do this:

• Sustainable agricultural practices developed with the help of nuclear technology:
  • To help farmers conserve water resources in the soil and crops, thereby reducing the likelihood of crop failure and ensuring higher yields from their land
  • Protecting livestock from insects such as the tsetse fly
  • Protecting plants from harmful insect pests
  • Improving productivity through the balanced use of fertiliser
  • Producing more food by using new plant varieties that are disease-resistant and can withstand changes in climatic conditions
  • Improving animal husbandry
• Nuclear techniques, such as irradiation, can help preserve food quality, extend shelf life, and ensure food safety during the preparation of food products for consumption. Furthermore, they can be used to inspect food to verify that it is free of contaminants and to ensure its authenticity, thereby preventing food fraud and facilitating exports, thereby helping to increase farmers’ incomes and boost the national economy.
• Hunger and malnutrition often stem from food insecurity and agricultural challenges, which undermine well-being and put a strain on economies. Using stable isotope techniques, health professionals can monitor body composition and food intake and absorption, or monitor breastfeeding, to better understand the complexities of malnutrition and whether treatment and prevention measures are effective.
• The “Econutrition” project, carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), aims to understand the interactions between nutrition and the environment using stable isotope techniques.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched the Atoms4Food initiative in 2023 to help countries increase food security and tackle rising hunger.

If you’d like to find out more, take a look at the article: “Nuclear technology: essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”