Pros And Cons Of Food Insecurity

However, some critics argue that it has little to do with food insecurity; rather, it is the outcomes from food charities expanding their operations. They also contend that people are seizing the opportunity of food made freely available but by contrast, UK food charities purport that they deliver emergency food relief in response to economic hardship and food insecurity as a result of cuts to local authority expenditure and central welfare spending (Lambie-Mumford, 2014).

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, there is evidence in recent research that indicates more food banks are emerging in regions undergoing greater cuts in spending on local services and central welfare benefits as well as higher unemployment rates resulting in maximum levels

of food bank users. In addition, the rise is also intense in communities where more individuals are experiencing benefit sanctions and where food parcel distribution is higher, common and better established (Cooper N, Purcell S, Jackson R, 2014).
Parallel to the current emergence of food banks in other wealthy nations, the birth and definitive entrenchment of food banks in Canada has been tightly entwined with the disassembling of the welfare state. Present levels of poverty, food insecurity, and food bank use are, to a large extent, the consequence of a severely altered economic scenery, categorised by overwhelming decline in the number of well-paying blue collar jobs in Canada. Policy resolutions related to this priority have encompassed a decrease in support for individuals incapable to work or find a job. For example, it is now hard to qualify for Employment Insurance, and social assistance benefits continue to be terribly low. The reality is that, well-paying jobs are out of reach for many, and this “flexibility” is contributing to poverty, food insecurity, and the necessity to resort to food banks (Valerie Tarasuk , Naomi Dachner , Rachel Loopstra , 2014).