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Abstract Injustices are prevalent in food systems, where the accumulation of vast wealth is possible for a few, yet one in ten people remain hungry. Here, for 194 countries we combine aquatic food production, distribution and consumption data with corresponding national policy documents and, drawing on theories of social justice, explore whether barriers to participation explain unequal distributions of benefits. Using Bayesian models, we find economic and political barriers are associated with lower wealth-based benefits; countries produce and consume less when wealth, formal education and voice and accountability are lacking. In contrast, social barriers are associated with lower welfare-based benefits; aquatic foods are less affordable where gender inequality is greater. Our analyses of policy documents reveal a frequent failure to address political and gender-based barriers. However, policies linked to more just food system outcomes centre principles of human rights, specify inclusive decision-making processes and identify and challenge drivers of injustice. 

Abstract Numerous studies have focused on the need to expand production of ‘blue foods’, defined as aquatic foods captured or cultivated in marine and freshwater systems, to meet rising population- and income-driven demand. Here we analyze the roles of economic, demographic, and geographic factors and preferences in shaping blue food demand, using secondary data from FAO and The World Bank, parameters from published models, and case studies at national to sub-national scales. Our results show a weak cross-sectional relationship between per capita income and consumption globally when using an aggregate fish metric. Disaggregation by fish species group reveals distinct geographic patterns; for example, high consumption of freshwater fish in China and pelagic fish in Ghana and Peru where these fish are widely available, affordable, and traditionally eaten. We project a near doubling of global fish demand by mid-century assuming continued growth in aquaculture production and constant real prices for fish. Our study concludes that nutritional and environmental consequences of rising demand will depend on substitution among fish groups and other animal source foods in national diets. 

Saccharomyces cerevisiaehas been an important model for determining the frequency of translational misreading events, those in which a tRNA pairs incorrectly to the mRNA and inserts an amino acid not specified by the codon in the mRNA. Misreading errors have been quantified in vivo using reporter protein systems or mass spectrometry with both approaches converging on a simple model for most misreading. The available data show that misreading tRNAs must form stereotypical base mismatches that correspond to those that can mimic Watson–Crick base pairs when formed in the ribosomal A site. Errors involving other mismatches occur significantly less frequently. This work debunks the idea of an average misreading frequency of 5 × 10⁻⁴per codon that extends across the genetic code. Instead, errors come in two distinct classes—high frequency and low frequency events—with most errors being of the low frequency type. A comparison of misreading errors inS. cerevisiaeandEscherichia colisuggests the existence of a mechanism that reduces misreading frequency in yeast; this mechanism may operate in eukaryotes generally.