The FAO food price index climbed 2.5 points in August, a 1.9 percent monthly gain. Sugar prices jumped 11.9 percent. Year on year, the index is up 2.5 percent but remains 16.8 percent below the March 2022 peak.
China shipped $470 million worth of catering robots in 2025, 51.3 percent more than a year earlier. One worker runs three machines at once.
Wholesale beef prices in China have climbed nearly 6 percent since the start of August, and nearly 9 percent year on year. The cattle herd keeps shrinking, and safeguard measures on imports introduced in 2026 are adding to the pressure.
French potato growers expect a harvest 23 percent smaller than a year earlier and losses of nearly 400 million euros. EU yield forecasts were cut for almost every summer crop.
The International Coffee Organization reported its I-CIP indicator at 287.29 US cents per pound in August. Cocoa in London and New York remains above 4,300 pounds and 5,700 dollars per tonne.
Autonomous food delivery is cheaper than human delivery, and the gap is widening. Austria now charges €2 per parcel.
A new pair of satellites tracks plant vitality worldwide and spots climate damage. Research from Hohenheim and Jülich shows that Agri-PV cuts yields by less than previously thought.
At a facility near Nanjing, crops grow on six levels, and lettuce matures in 35 days instead of 60. In Hebei, the first phase of a vegetable factory with a capacity of 800 tonnes a year has started up.
In 2022, 1.05 billion tonnes of food went to waste, or 132 kg per person. Food loss and waste account for 8-10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and cost about a trillion dollars.
The EU permits over 300 food additives. On 10 September 2026, EFSA declared aspartame-acesulfame salt (E 962) safe at current exposure levels.
The WHO estimates that 866 million people fall ill each year after eating contaminated food, and 1.52 million die. In China, inspectors had checked 4,136,600 batches of food by 20 September 2026.
China aims for 60 trillion yuan in retail sales by 2030. Meanwhile, restaurant chains are closing outlets, and home robot sales on key platforms jumped 95.1 percent in July.