What is the definition of Food Security?
- Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
- Food security prevails if both food supply and demand are sufficient to cover food requirements on a continuous and stable basis. It embodies enough food, good food, healthy food and culturally appropriate food.
- Food security is when people have reliable access to sufficient, affordable, nutritious food to support a healthy life.
- The core concept of food security carries the access to healthy food and optimal nutrition for all.
What are the characteristics of Food Security?
- Enough food
→ If there is adequate food as per one’s need and requirements. - Good food
→ It should be with desirable taste, texture and other attributes. - Healthy food
→ It should be nutritious and sustaining with proper vitamins, minerals, fibre, energy, and all the other things that our bodies need. - Culturally appropriate food
→ Having access to culturally appropriate food means that people have food that they are familiar with and comfortable with including availability of familiar foods & varieties.
What is the definition of Food Insecurity?
• Food Insecurity refers to a lack of access to enough, good, healthy and culturally appropriate food.
How is Food Security ensured?
• To ensure food security, it is not enough to just maintain a steady supply of food for the population. It is also crucial for AVA to ensure that the available food, whether imported, locally produced, in fresh or processed forms, is safe to eat and affordable for all.
What are the four pillars of food security?
- Availability
- Accessibility
- Utilization
- Stability
Availability of Food (characteristics, what it focuses on and how is it determined)
- Focus on sufficient (reliable and consistent) supply of appropriate, quality food.
- Determined by the level of domestic food production, stock levels, import capability and food aid.
- Spatial accessibility such as travel time to shopping, availability of and access to food outlets, availability of healthy foods.
- Affordability – determined by food prices and purchasing power of buyers (i.e. income)
- Food distribution within households.
How is affordability determined?
• Affordability – determined by food prices and purchasing power of buyers (i.e. income)
Economic and Physical Access to Food (characteristics, what it focuses on and how is it determined)
- Focus on physical, economic and social access.
* Determined by purchasing power, population incomes, transport and market infrastructure.
Food Utilization (characteristics, what it focuses on and how is it determined)
- Focus on sufficient dietary (energy and nutrient) intake and ability to use nutrients in the body.
- Determined by food safety and hygiene, food processing and manufacturing practices, storage and transportation, retail, food preparation, diet quality and diversity of the diet and food distribution.
- The ability to exercise cultural food preferences and the effective use of food within households and communities to guarantee equitable nutrition.
What are some good food safety practices?
- Select our food carefully.
- Separate raw and cooked food.
- Keep food at safe temperatures.
- Wash and keep clean.
- Cook food well.
Food Stability (characteristics, what it focuses on and how is it determined)
- Focus on people’s ability to access and utilize food that remains stable and sustained over time.
- Determined by weather variability, price fluctuations, political factors, and economic factors (e.g. collapse of national economy and unemployment).
- Examines the changes in the food supply chain.
What are the social consequences of food insecurity?
Hunger and Malnutrition
What is hunger?
- Condition in which people lack nutrients for fully productive, active and healthy lives
- Can result from insufficient nutrients intake or from impaired absorption of required nutrients in body
- Starvation being the extreme state of hunger from severe lack of food
What is malnutrition?
- condition in which body does not get sufficient or balanced amount of nutrients it needs to maintain healthy tissues and organ functions
- Can lead to death or long-term development problems
- Undernutrition or overnutrition
What are the causes of food insecurity?
- Globalisation
- Conflict
- Poverty
- Climate Change
What are the challenges (drivers) of food insecurity?
- Rising Food Prices
- Food Hoarding
- Inefficient production practices and supply chains (Food Shortages, Wastage, Food Contamination)
- Threats to Agricultural Production
- Decline in Investment in Food System Research
- Change in Diet
What are the manifestations (effects) of food insecurity?
- Deterioration of Health (Nutrition-related Diseases)
- Malnutrition/Undernourishment (Stunting in Children)
- Hunger/Starvation
- Loss of Life
- Civil Unrest
- Economic Instability
- Political Instability
- Social Instability
What is the definition of famine?
- an extreme event leading to widespread death
- Criteria: “At least 1 in 5 households now faces an extreme lack of food, more than 30 percent of the population is suffering from acute malnutrition, and at least two people out of every 10,000 are dying each day.” (UN)
What are the 3 key physiological measures of undernourishment and undernutrition in children?
• Stunting
- being ‘too short for one’s age’; indicator of severe malnutrition
• Wasting
- being ‘dangerously thin for one’s height’
• Underweight
- low weight-for-age in children.
What are the economic consequences of food insecurity? (cycle)
unable to access food → little food → no energy to work → low productivity → low income
