The world faces the dual challenge of increasing food production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. One emerging solution involves the use of environmental inhibitors (EIs), substances designed to lower methane emissions from cows and other livestock, and to reduce nitrogen losses from fertilizers in crop production. These technologies have the potential to mitigate environmental impacts, but their introduction into agrifood systems requires careful evaluation to ensure food safety.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has released a report, Environmental Inhibitors in Agrifood Systems – Considerations for Food Safety Risk Assessment, along with a technical brief, to guide policymakers and stakeholders in assessing potential risks associated with EIs. The documents focus on two main categories: methanogenesis inhibitors, which target ruminants to reduce methane emissions, and nitrogen inhibitors, which improve nitrogen use efficiency in soils while limiting nitrous oxide emissions.
FAO emphasizes that residues from environmental inhibitors could enter the food chain, making thorough food safety risk assessments essential to protect human health and avoid trade disruptions. Regulatory frameworks for EIs are currently fragmented across regions, highlighting the need for harmonized approaches. FAO supports such harmonization through scientific advice provided by international expert committees, forming the basis for standards under the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
On 20 January 2026, FAO experts will hold a webinar to present findings and discuss key food safety considerations when using environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems. Corinna Hawkes, Director of FAO’s Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division, stressed that applying a food safety lens from the outset ensures mitigation efforts are effective, trusted, and widely understood.
The report underscores the scale of the challenge: agriculture contributes an estimated 58 percent of global methane (CH4) emissions and 52 percent of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Without mitigation, FAO projects that greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood systems could rise by more than 30 percent between 2010 and 2050. Methanogenesis inhibitors, such as 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), work by blocking enzymes involved in methane production in ruminants, while nitrogen inhibitors, such as dicyandiamide (DCD), enhance nitrogen use efficiency in soils, reducing environmental losses.
FAO notes that assessing food safety for these compounds starts with determining whether residues are present in foods consumed by humans or livestock. Both groups of inhibitors—whether classified as veterinary drugs, feed additives, or soil treatments—require careful evaluation to ensure that environmental benefits do not compromise food safety. Through its Food Safety Foresight Programme, FAO continues to monitor and provide guidance on emerging risks in agrifood systems, supporting the safe adoption of innovative technologies like environmental inhibitors.
