Food

Food Security

Food security, as defined by the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.

The four components of Food security

1. Availability of food. Availability is one of the four components of food security and it addresses the supply side. The phrase refers to the physical inflow and presence of safe and nutritious food at a given time and in a given place (e.g. at a local market or in a country).
2. Access to food. Access, one of the four components of food security, concerns itself with whether or not an individual or household is able to gain access to (and therefore eat) available food. It addresses the ability to purchase or exchange goods for foods, as well as foods that are given and other social mechanisms that affect access (e.g. unequal distribution of food among the members of a household).
3. Utilisation of food. Utilisation is one of the four components of food security. It addresses the body’s ability to make the most out of the nutrients in food that is consumed. Utilisation of food can be affected by factors such as poor storage, spoilage, cooking practices, food safety, and diseases (such as worms, or HIV/Aids) that might affect sufficient consumption and digestion of food.
4. Stability. Stability is one of the four components of food security. It cuts across and affects all the other components. Food may be available and accessible to people who are able to utilise it effectively, but this state of affairs needs to be enduring and so stable over time, rather than being a temporary state that is subject to fluctuations.
5. Malnutrition. Malnutrition undermines a person’s ability to lead a healthy life and occurs when a person is not able to obtain the right variety of nutrients in the right amounts from their diet. It is an umbrella term that includes overnutrition (an excess of food energy), undernutrition (a lack of food energy and macronutrients such as protein), and micronutrient deficiencies (insufficient micronutrients such as iron, vitamin A or iodine).

'The Biggest Threats to Global Food Security'

1. Climate Change and Environmental Shocks
2. Population Increase and the Modern Food System
3. Disruptions in the Food Chain