Food Security Case Study

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Introduction
Food security is the availability, access, stability and utilisation of food for all people. (Beddington et al., 2012) The world’s population is expected to reach nine million by 2050. The main limitations stopping the world from achieving food security is food wastage, inadequate production and economic barriers. Overcoming these barriers is essential to being able to feed an increased population however it must be done in a way that will not exploit our natural resources or environment so that future generations can also to produce enough food.
Food Wastage
The first step in achieving food security is to maximise the use of food already being produced and to minimise its waste. The FAO (2013) estimates that 1.3 billion tonnes …show more content…

Stores are unable to sell items that have past their best before date due to regulations and consumer belief that the food has expired, when it is generally still safe to eat but has just passed its peak quality. (USDA, 2013) Food is also wasted once it has been purchased. 32% of all food purchased per year in UK households is not eaten and ends up in a landfill – a huge amount of wastage. Over three million people die of obesity related causes each year. There is a growing number of people becoming obese, in America, 34.9% of people are obese. This is up from 27.9% in 2013. (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2014) Obesity contributes to a lack of food security due to the amount of food obese people consume. Eliminating obesity could result in 6% more food available. (Lipinski et al., 2013) The problem is however that food insecurity can also cause obesity. Where fast food options are more accessible and the cost of healthy alternatives is too high, people opt for the easier and cheaper option. This leads to obesity and nutrient deficiencies also may be evident. (Unit, 2014) Therefore changing people’s attitude towards food in the western world is critical, this could be most easily achieved by education. In countries such as New Zealand where every product had a good and services tax, it could be beneficial to remove the tax off unprocessed food, lowering its price and therefore encouraging people to choose a healthier option of

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