Food Security (Advanced Info) Flashcards
What is food security?
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
What does food security include?
Availability - is there a sufficient amount of food available all the time?
Access - can the food be reached efficiently? Is the food affordable? Is it of a high quality?
Utilisation - is the food part of a balanced diet?
What is food availability?
This includes how much food is available as well as the reliability of the supply
What are the reasons why some countries fail to have access to a wide range of foods?
They do not have enough money to buy the food they need
There are no effective trading policies
There are no good transport systems to help distribute food
What does food utilisation mean?
This includes:
The way the body makes use of the different nutrients in food
That a person has sufficient nutrients, a healthy and varied diet
What does it mean to be malnourished?
It means they have a diet that is unbalanced
What can cause malnutrition?
It can be caused when there is not enough food in the diet or when too much of a particular nutrient is consumed
How has Fairtrade affected food producers and workers?
Farmers and communities have a more secure income and are less likely to live in poverty
They are helping communities to establish cooperatives
They are improving farmers’ access to training
What are some of the Fairtrade food products?
Bananas Dried fruit Sugar Cocoa Coffee Spices
What are genetically modified foods?
Foods that have been made by modifying or engineering the genetic make up of the item.
This is undertaken by copying a gene with its code and inserting it into another living organism
What are the advantages of GM foods?
Improvements to quality and quantity of food
They can grow in adverse conditions (e.g. drought)
They can thrive better as they are herbicide and insect resistant
Higher in nutritional quality (golden rice)
Cheaper to produce
Why do many people not want to buy GM foods?
The long term safety is unknown
There are environmental concerns - leads to the introduction of monocultures
Some people view it as unethical - it disturbs the native species in a population
Often there is a lack of communication between the provider and the consumer
How are GM foods labelled?
From January 2000, if a product contains 1% of GM food, then it must be stated on the label
Under 1% does not need labelling
However if a product has been fed on GM animal feed (e.g. meat, milk and eggs), this does not need to be labelled as GM foods
What are the main reasons we throw food away?
Too much is prepared and cooked
We do not use the food in time
Which foods are wasted the most?
Fresh vegetables
Salad
Fresh fruit
Bakery items (e.g. bread, cakes)
