Definitions of Food and Food Security

Food is the foremost component of basic needs and helps to maintain proper health by
preventing and curing diseases. Nobody can survive in the long run unless they have enough
nutritious food. In a conventional understanding, food is derived from plants and animals that
help the physical absorption process by providing proper food value and nutritional support
(Mahmud, 2018). As a nutritional matter, food provides protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, fat,
minerals, and other essential micronutrients. It is comprised of both animal and vegetable
products, such as meat, eggs, dairy products, cereals, vegetables, and sugar (Zhou et al., 2017).
The WHO and FAO define food in a physiological sense as ‘nutritive material taken into an
organism that fulfills needs for maintenance, growth, work, and tissue repair’ (WHO and FAO,
1974). Food has different values other than providing life-supporting energy. Eating and drinking
have a value that goes beyond feeding and watering (Telfer, 1996). It is also a part of an
individual’s identity, where he or she is constructed biologically, psychologically, and socially
through food behaviour (Fischler, 1988). It is highly related to socio-cultural concepts that
include religion, gender, class, caste, stratification, and age. It is also linked to our common
psycho-social issues, such as mental stress, illness, consciousness, fear, anger, pleasure,
cooperation, conflict, sleeplessness, and aspiration (Mahmud, 2018). In the economic sense, food
concerns production, distribution, demand, supply, market, consumption, and the food system as
a whole.

From the above discussion, major features of food can be shown as follows:

 Survival dimension: Without food, none can survive for too long. It is needed to keep the body
alive and fit, for movement and warmth, and for growth and repair of tissues.

 Nutritional dimension: Food provides essential nutritional elements for sound physical and
mental well-being.

 Socio-cultural dimension: All edible and nutritionally satisfactory foods are not socially and
culturally accepted.

 Economic dimension: Food is also an economic concern. One has to pay to get it from the
market. Variations in food price also depend on the demand and supply chain in the market.

Food security is defined as a state when all people, at all times, have physical and economic
access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences
for an active and healthy life (World Food Summit, 1996).

Food security is mainly defined as the availability of food supply to feed the world’s population.
It concerns the supply side of food and access to it (Zhou, 2000). It is the adequacy of food
supply through domestic production, imports, and foreign food aid. Reutlinger (1986:1) defines
food security as “access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life”.
This emphasizes not only food availability and access issues, but also food utilization that
focuses on the nutritional aspect of food. DeRose et al., (1998) noted that food insecurity
includes food shortages, hunger, poverty, inequality, maldistribution, deprivation, mortality, and
illness.

Food security is an integrated concept related to numerous social, cultural, political, economic,
agricultural, environmental, and biophysical considerations that make multiple disciplines well-
fitted for examining it.

A conceptual understanding of food security encompasses the broader dynamics of hunger,

famine, poverty, starvation, and malnutrition. The concept ranges from food availability to
equitable distribution at the local and global level. It embraces availability, sufficiency,
affordability, nutritional quality, safety, acceptability, sustainability, cultural adaptability, and
preference.

It is recognized that food availability, though essential, does not ensure food security for all due
to individuals’ lack of social, economic, and physical access to food. Food utilization focuses on
the health, hygiene, preference, and sociocultural aspects of food security. In addition, the
socioeconomic and cultural issues, including food taboos, gender identity, and time and space,
are exclusively related to food security.

History

Period Primary Focus Key Events

1940s– Physical Post-WWII recovery led to the creation of the FAO (1945). The
1950s Availability focus was on national-level production to prevent famine.
1960s Surplus & Tech The Green Revolution introduced high-yield crop varieties to
boost global supply.
1974 Birth of the Term The World Food Conference formally defined food security as
"availability at all times of adequate world food supplies".
1980s Economic Access Amartya Sen's entitlement theory shifted the focus from "enough
food" to "people's ability to buy it".
1996 The Modern The World Food Summit established the 4 pillars: Availability,
Definition Access, Utilization, and Stability.
2010s– Sustainability & Modern shifts include the 5th and 6th pillars (Agency and
Present Resilience Sustainability) to address climate change and systemic
inequality.

The idea of food security has evolved over the last few decades since its first formal introduction
in the early 1970s. The concept was perceived as an inter-governmental issue through the
 activities of the League of Nations, the United Nations (UN), the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO), the World Bank (WB), the World Health Organization (WHO), the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Trade Organization (ITO). As a matter
of global governance, food security was first visible in the 1930s through the activities of the
League of Nations. The malnutrition and epidemics caused by World War I increased the
mortality rate, and international aid programs were one of the most essential means for
stabilizing food security. The economic recession in the 1930s recognized the need for
international cooperation to bring about food security. Later, the US President’s Four Freedom
Declaration in 1941, the UN Conferences on Food and Agriculture in 1943, the FAO Conference
in Quebec in 1945, and the United States Nutrition Conference in the 1940s drew the attention of
world leaders to the need to ensure food security for the entire population of the world.
Subsequently, the World Food Survey report, the formation of the World Food Board (WFB) and
World Food Bank (WFB), the concept of the World Food Reserve (WFR), and the World Food
Program (WFP) worked for food security in line with trade barriers, economic food security,
food market fluctuations, food aid, food loan, famine prevention, health, and malnutrition,
among many other areas. Finally, in 1974, the World Food Conference outlined the concept of
food security, reflecting the issues of food availability, sustainable food consumption, and price
stability. Later, the concept was extended by adding the matter of physical and economic access
to food. Finally, the concept of food security was reshaped at the 1996 World Food Summit,
comprising the components of food availability, access, utilization, preference, and stability. In
line with the summit declaration, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) notes
sequentially: “Food must be available; households must have access to it; they must utilize it
appropriately and the whole system must be stable” (IPC, 2019:29). Other studies also explicitly
stress a hierarchical order of food pillars, seeing availability as necessary but not sufficient for
access; access as necessary but not sufficient for effective utilization; and stability as a cross-
cutting factor that is necessary for others to hold (Webb et al., 2006; Upton et al., 2016).

Levels of Analysis
Food security is analyzed across different scales, as a surplus at one level does not guarantee
security at another:
 Global: Focuses on world grain supplies, trade, and global climate impacts.

 National: Centers on a country’s food independence, trade balance, and public distribution
policies.

 Household: Assesses the specific ability of a family to acquire food, often using tools like
the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS).

 Individual: Considers intra-household distribution, which can be affected by gender or age

discrimination.
 Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is a lack of access to enough nutritious food for a person to maintain a healthy
diet and lifestyle. Access can mean a physical lack of available food, such as not enough
grocery stores, or an economic lack of available food, like not having enough money to
purchase food.

When we talk about food security issues in our communities, Americans often think of famine
and other images associated with “global hunger.” However, that’s not entirely accurate. In fact,
roughly 10% of Americans faced food insecurity at some point in 2021. Furthermore, while
people affected by food insecurity face hunger; these two terms are not interchangeable. Hunger
refers to the physical sensation of needing food. Food insecurity is the lack of access to food.

People that struggle with food security may experience a lack of food in the short term or for
extended periods of time. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are
four ranges of food security:

 High food security, which is where people have no problems accessing food or
maintaining a relatively nutritious diet.
 Marginal food security, which is where people experience some issues accessing food,
especially nutritious foods.
 Low food security, which is where people have some access to food but there are few
high-quality, nutrient-rich options, and they may not be able to eat regularly.
 Very low food security, which is where people have little access to food, especially
quality food options, and regularly experience low food intake.

Categorization of Insecurity
 Chronic: Long-term, persistent lack of food often caused by structural poverty.

 Acute/Transitory: Short-term, sudden drops in food access due to conflict, economic shocks, or
weather disasters.

 Seasonal: Predictable cyclical patterns of shortage, typically occurring during the "lean season"
before a harvest.
 Rome World Food Summit

The 1996 World Food Summit in Rome, organized by the FAO, brought together 185 countries
to combat global hunger, resulting in the Rome Declaration on World Food Security. It
pledged to achieving food security for all and to an ongoing effort to eradicate hunger in all
countries, with an immediate view to reducing the number of undernourished people to half their
present level no later than 2015.

Key aspects of the Rome World Food Summit:

 Purpose: To renew global commitment to eliminating hunger and achieving sustainable food
security.

 Key Document: The Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan
of Action was adopted, outlining7commitments to reduce hunger.

The seven commitments are:

 Commitment One: Creating a favorable political, social, and economic
environment.

 Commitment Two: Ensuring that everyone has access to sufficient, nutritious,

and safe food.

 Commitment Three: Promoting sustainable development in food, agriculture,

and rural areas.

 Commitment Four: Making sure that trade policies support food security.

 Commitment Five: Being prepared for and responding to food-related crises

and emergencies.

 Commitment Six: Encouraging smart investments in human resources, food

systems, and rural development.

 Commitment Seven: Working together at all levels to put the plan into action
and monitor progress.

 Focus Areas: The summit emphasized poverty eradication, the need for a stable political
environment, and the importance of investing in rural development.
 Follow-up: Subsequent summits, such as the 2002, 2009 and 2021 World Summit on Food
Security, were held to address ongoing challenges, including high food prices and crises.

 Participants: Included 112 Heads or Deputy Heads of State and Government.

The summit highlighted the necessity of a "twin-track" approach: immediate action to tackle
hunger for the most vulnerable, alongside long-term investments in agriculture.