Abstract
The food and beverage sector is the cornerstone of national and international food systems and, given its essential role in ensuring food security and nutrition, is fundamentally linked to human existence. As every country is engaged in the production of food and drinks, the sector is also an important source of livelihood, providing direct employment to millions of workers around the globe.For the purposes of this report, the food and beverage sector refers to the processing, manufacturing and packaging of food and beverages and their distribution to retailers. This excludes upstream activities concerned with the production of raw agricultural materials, including livestock, aquaculture and fisheries, and their transportation to processing facilities. It also excludes downstream food and beverage services, including retail and commerce, restaurants, schools and other points of delivery to consumers. The focus of the report is therefore on the midstream processing of raw food materials into intermediate or final products for consumption, while acknowledging that some subsectors, such as the meat-processing and seafood-processing subsectors, may be characterized by a less pronounced division between upstream and midstream activities. A number of examples in the report also refer to the broader agri-food systems and the agri-food sector, of which food and drink manufacturing is an integral part. They highlight the interconnected nature of food production activities and the critical role that the food and beverage industry plays in advancing the transition towards sustainable food systems.