Food Security and Poverty Quiz

Food Security and Hunger

• Globally, 1 in 5 people experience chronic food shortage daily.
• Hunger can exist in countries that produce excess food due to access issues.
• Food security is defined as consistent access to safe, nutritious, and personally acceptable foods through typical food channels.
• Food insecurity is uncertain or limited access to sufficient quantity or quality of food, where people have enough calories, but not necessarily enough nutrients
• Risk factors for food insecurity include increased non-food costs, underemployment, and poverty.
• Food poverty occurs when enough food is available, but people cannot obtain it due to war, political issues, or lack of resources.
• Hunger involves the discomfort or pain from insufficient food energy consumption and is scientifically referred to as food deprivation and all hungry people are food insecure.
• Famine refers to extreme, widespread food scarcity causing starvation.

Four Pillars of Food Security

• Availability means having sufficient amounts of food at all times, and can be affected by season, conflict, preservation, and supply.
• Accessibility denotes physical and economic means to access food, which relies on resources to acquire food.
• Market prices, employment/funds, production/marketing systems, gender/power relations, education, transportation, water, and sanitation affect accessibility.
• Adequacy ensures access to food providing adequate nourishment and safety, which depends on control over resources, nutrient content, and nutrition knowledge.
• Acceptability is access to personally palatable and culturally appropriate food obtained through socially acceptable means, and a fifth pillar, agency, includes policies and processes that make food security achievable.

Global Food Insecurity and Hunger

• Food poverty is the main cause of hunger in developing countries, with women and children being the most affected.
• In 2022, 29.6% of the world population (2.4 billion people) experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.
• Approximately 42% of the global population could not afford a healthy diet in 2021, and the proportion likely increased in 2023 due to global inflation.
• Reasons for hunger in the developing world include regional food availability, discrimination, household access, clean water, health services, childcare practices, and inadequate nutrient intakes.
• Disease and malnutrition worsen each other, affecting life expectancy.
• Two major challenges to banishing world food insecurity include providing enough food for the growing population without harming natural resources and ensuring everyone has access to food.
• Despite enough food being produced to feed the global population, distribution inequities persist.
• Globally, ~735 million people experience hunger and protein-energy malnutrition, while over 1.1 billion are overweight/obese.

Addressing World Food Insecurity

• Sustainable agriculture
• Improved infrastructure
• Access to resources
• Education and training
• Technology and innovation
• Reducing food waste
• Empowering women
• Nutrition programs
• Social safety nets
• Trade policies
• Climate change mitigation
• Government policies
• Population control and family planning

Hunger in Developed Countries

• Food insecurity exists in developed countries due to lack of money for nutritious food and other necessities.
• Political decisions, war, and lack of transportation also affect food access.
• Those on welfare or the working poor struggle with rising prices and stagnant incomes.
• Adults often skip meals, cut portions, beg or steal, scavenge, or rely on low-nutrient, high-calorie foods to stretch meager food supplies.
• Single-parent households, especially female-led, are at greater risk.

Food Insecurity in North America

• In 2022, 18.4% of Canadians living in the 10 provinces experienced food insecurity, an increase from pre-pandemic levels.
• Territories had very high rates of food insecurity in 2017-2018: Yukon (12.6%), Northwest Territories (15.9%), and Nunavut (49.4%).

Causes of Food Insecurity in Developed Countries

• The main cause of hunger in developed countries like Canada is food poverty
• Households are more likely to experience food insecurity if they:
• Receive their income from minimum wages, part time jobs, workers compensation, employment insurance or social assistance
• Are First Nation, Métis or Inuit living rural or remote communities
• Have children (especially with a lone mother)
• Are homeless
• Are new immigrants
• Have chronic health problems

Health Effects of Food Insecurity

• Food insecurity increases the prevalence of chronic health conditions and poor mental health.
• These risks increase with the severity of food insecurity.

Food Security in Manitoba and Canadian Programs

• Manitoba is not immune to food insecurity issues.
• National food recovery programs collect and distribute wholesome foods to low-income individuals.
• Four common methods of food recovery are field gleaning, perishable food rescue, prepared food rescue, and non-perishable food collection.
• Local efforts involve volunteers working through agencies and churches, e.g., soup kitchens and food banks.
• Community kitchens allow individuals to prepare meals together.
• Community gardens are grown on donated land, with participants responsible for care and benefiting from the yield.
• School feeding programs offer meals to children at school.
• Food Share programs connect people with fruit trees to pickers, sharing the harvest.
• Other programs and collaborations work to improve access to healthy foods and strengthen communities.

Food Loss and Waste in Canada

• Globally, ~31% of food produced is lost or wasted, damaging the sustainability of food systems, where all resources used to produce food are wasted.
• Food waste in landfills leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change, negatively impacting food security.
• Approximately 58% of food produced in Canada is lost or wasted, with about 32% recoverable for human consumption.
• Most food loss and waste occurs in households and food service (restaurants).

Avoiding Food Waste: A Farm-to-Fork Perspective

• Production:
• Problem: Cosmetic standards leading to rejection of "ugly" produce, market changes causing over/under production, diseases/weather events, lack of labor to harvest.
• Solution: Marketing approaches that promote field gleaning and sell imperfect produce, tax credits for harvesting surplus crops, support for innovations, and research programs focused on improving disease resistance
• Transport and Storage:
• Problem: Lack of temperature/humidity control, damage during transfer, and pests.
• Solution: Guidance on supply chain challenges, research on improving shelf life and pest prevention, and reducing food travel distance by buying local.
• Packaging, Processing, and Manufacturing:
• Problem: Trimming and culling of off-spec produce, process inefficiencies, and over-production due to incorrect forecasting.
• Solution: Resources to support food manufacturers in reducing food loss, tools to identify and track food loss, innovative technologies, improved regulatory approaches
• Wholesale and Distribution:
• Problem: Losses during transport, storage, quality standards, inappropriate packaging, and poor inventory management..
• Solution: Training and support, packaging improvements, monitoring systems, inventory management
• Retail Sales:
• Problem: Rejected produce, withdrawal of products nearing date labels, and inaccurate forecasting.
• Solution: Staff training, standardized procedures, and packaging improvements, discounts and donations of food close to best before dates
• Restaurants and Food Services:
• Problem: Food prepared but not served, surplus ingredients, and customer leftovers.
• Solution: Training, resources, and tool kits on reducing food loss and waste, proper storage and inventory practices.
• Households and Consumers:
• Problem: Over purchasing, lack of meal planning, spoilage, and concern over food safety.
• Solution: Asking for smaller portions, eating/reusing leftovers, smart shopping habits, buying "ugly" produce, sharing/donating, composting, practicing FIFO, and checking fridge temperature. Over 60% of Canadian household food waste is avoidable. Composting non-avoidable food waste like bones, shells, and coffee grounds is encouraged.

Hierarchy of Solutions for Food Loss and Waste (most to least preferred)

• Reduce the amount of food grown and harvested that is not eaten
• Recover surplus food through donation or animal feed.
• Recycle food by using it for non-food products like pharmaceuticals or compost.
• Dispose of food by sending it to landfill or incineration.

Food Sovereignty

• The food sovereignty movement began in 1996 with La Via Campesina, an organization representing 148 organizations from 69 countries.
• Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agricultural systems.
• It prioritizes the needs of food producers, distributors, and consumers over market demands.

Seven Pillars of Food Sovereignty

• Focuses on Food for People. Puts people at the center of food policies
• Builds Knowledge and Skills. Reject the technologies that undermine or contaminate local food systems
• Works with Nature. Build resilience and work with the ecological environment, not against it.
• Values Food Providers. Support the people who grow food sustainably.
• Localizes Food Systems. Reduce the distance between food producer and consumer. Reject food dumping by large corporations.
• Puts Control Locally. Give control to the local bodies
• Food is Sacred. Value food as a gift and not as a commodity

Practicing Food Sovereignty

• Community Gardens and Urban Agriculture empower local communities.
• Seed Saving and Heritage Crops maintain diversity.
• Farmers' Markets and Local Food Movements create new connections.
• Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is membership based, as it fosters relationships.
• Agroecology and Sustainable Farming mitigates climate change.
• Food Policy Councils consult with food producers.
• Farm-to-School Programs bring food to students.
• Land Conversation and Agroforestry provides ecological benefit.
• Social Movements advocate for policies.

Factors Impacting Food Sovereignty

• Cost of food production: Minimal input lead to less revenue and yield.
• Law and regulations: Zoning laws restricting urban farming.
• Cost of land acquisition: Cheaper for large scale farmers.
• Governmental Support: Lack for small scale sustainable agriculture.
• Free trade Agreements and Globalization: Import of cheap food can compete with local food.
• Economic framework: Based on mass production at low cost.

Indigenous Food Sovereignty

• Indigenous food sovereignty represents the reclamation of self-determined, traditional food systems.
• Historically, Indigenous food systems were plentiful, with fluctuations due to weather and migration, hunger was not a major issue.
• The colonization of Canada resulted in a forced food system, due to bison, beaver, and other animal eradication.
• Hunger has been used as a weapon.
• Food systems are deeply interconnected with the land, and their health is vital to reducing the disproportionate environmental challenges faced by Indigenous communities.