<p>Supermarkets increasingly dominate food systems. They are the primary influence on food supply chains that are failing to enable sustainable outcomes or deliver affordable food during acute or prolonged crises. In Australia, the dominant food retail model neither fully accounts for risk, thereby contributing to rising food insecurity, nor ensures socially or ecologically sustainable farming systems. The limitations of food systems dominated by modern supermarkets reflect the broader reality that humanity is entering a new era of socio-ecological risk. Recognition of the emerging risk society raises questions about how supermarkets can evolve to guide sustainable outcomes for the food system. Our interdisciplinary review suggests that to mitigate risk, supermarkets must strengthen key structural elements of food systems to support food security and secure food by prioritizing sovereign food security, supporting local farmers, addressing concerns across the supply chain, and reinforcing sustainable agroecosystems. Alternative supermarket systems offer components of potential solutions, suggesting that a reflexive system of community action, regulation, and financial incentives could help supermarkets adopt new approaches that regenerate the social, ecological, and economic elements of food systems for strong sustainability and to account for future risks.</p>