Food Security
"Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." [2][5]
The Two Dimensions of Food Security:
Individual and Household Food Security
The ability of individuals to reliably access food is also known as individual and household food security, and focuses on income, recognizing that food is one manifestation of income insecurity
Community Food Security
“Community food security exists when all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice“ [3]
| focus | analysis | operates at | known as |
access to food | income | issues related to poverty, social infrastructure, power, & social justice | household and individual levels | individual & household food security |
production and supply of food | food | issues related to developing an environmentally sustainable food system power re: industrial agriculture/food system | community, regional, national and international levels | community food security |
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2. Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security: A response to the World Food Summit. Ottawa: Agriculture and Agri-food Canada; 1998.
3. Hamm MW and Bellows AC. Community Food Security and Nutrition Educators., Journal of Nutrition Education 2003; Vol. 35 #1:37-43
5. This section on food security is taken from the work of Elaine Power, PhD, Queen's University, to whom we are grateful.
