Dear Colleagues,

Food provides nutrients that are essential for our health and life and is interconnected with various functions. Such functions can be related to society (e.g., healthy workforce, social cohesion, culture and traditions, etc.), economies (e.g., agriculture, food manufacturing, restaurant industry, tourism destinations, etc.), and research (e.g., food and nutrition technology, environmental research, etc.) that contribute to our overall wellbeing (Bhargava et al., 2001; Arora, 2001; Bublitz et al., 2013; Nordstrom et al., 2013; Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2017).
In our global world, food usually reaches the consumer through a complex network of interconnected links at national and international levels, starting from the primary producer, i.e., the farmer (e.g., grain for food manufacturing, animal feed, etc.), to transport and warehousing, to the retailer or caterer. This network (including all other activities directly or indirectly linked to food) is analytically described by the FAO as a "food system" (FAO, 2013).
However, one increasingly important element to be addressed for food systems is sustainability with respect to the economy, society, and environment (Gerber et al., 2013; FAO, 2014). Disruption, uncertainty, and turmoil can adversely affect these sustainability factors, and especially under the current COVID-19 health crisis (FAO, 2020; Global Network Against Food Crises, 2020), they can lead to devastating effects if matters are not quickly identified, and robust polices and collaborations are not put in place to mitigate potential adverse effects on the global food supply and systems. Importantly, recent estimates show that about 49 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 (Gerszon Mahler et al., 2020).
Various factors can make food systems particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. These can be related, for example, to various internal and external transport delays and travel restrictions (e.g., even small delays can have significant effects on perishable goods with limited shelf lives), labor shortages, immigration policies, insufficient inventories, limited storage facilities, food regulations and security, international trade restrictions, rising food prices, alteration in consumers’ income circumstances, and fears of contagion (see, for example, Barichello, 2020; Baker et al., 2020; Deaton and Deaton, 2020; FAO, 2020; Gray, 2020; Hobbs, 2020).
This Special Issue concentrates on this important topic and calls for high-quality papers directed towards developed economies, economies in transition, or developing economies. In particular, we encourage studies that can focus on comparisons of a group of countries. All submitted manuscripts should have a solid theoretical and empirical approach and must add significantly to the ongoing COVID-19 policy debate. Although the call promotes papers on various themes, some key themes that can be explored include the following:

• The mechanisms by which COVID-19 causes disruption in food systems and the potential detrimental effect on sustainability.
• The parts and stages of a food system that are most susceptible to COVID-19, as well as safeguarding polices and mitigation strategies.
• Collaboration strategies and management approaches to strengthen food systems and supply chains to become more resilient and sustainable under COVID-19.
• The effects of COVID-19 on sustainability (economic, social, nutritional, etc.) in food systems.
• The effects of COVID-19 on international trade in food and food prices, including the potential effects, disruptions, costs, benefits, trade policies, etc.
• Populations that are most exposed or vulnerable to the COVID-19 crisis and potential effects on food systems.
• Food security, regulation, and procedures under COVID-19.

The editors of this Special Issue welcome discussions of ideas from participants. The development of novel ideas will be encouraged, but all submitted papers will be passed through a rigorous peer review process in which only strong papers that meet the standard criteria of the journal will be selected.

Prof. Dr. George Saridakis
Mr. Nikolaos Dadios
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• food systems
• supply chain
• logistics operations
• labor force shortage
• sustainable management
• food safety and regulations
• international trade in food
• food demand
• policy responses
• country-level and international comparisons
• rural–urban comparisons
• COVID-19