Food Aid – Normalising the Abnormal in Finland

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina Silvasti
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Security Costs ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
Food Charity ◽  
First Time ◽  
Deep Recession

In Finland, food banks and bread lines emerged for the first time during the deep recession in the mid-1990s and, since then, have become permanent. This was partly an outcome of cutting or freezing social security costs during the economic slump, but there has also been an increasingly explicit transformation in national social policy. However, the emergence and persistence of food aid cannot be explained purely as a social and poverty policy issue. This article examines charity food aid as a solution to the hunger problem within the Nordic welfare regime and traces connections linking the establishment of food charity to the prevailing food system. This article focuses on different policy actions and economic developments that took place independently during the 1990s, producing, apparently accidently and without conscious co-ordination, entrenchment of charitable food aid in Finland.

scholarly journals The Pathway Study: Commonalities Across New Food Bank Users in Rural, Suburban and Urban Areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Roncarolo ◽  
G Mercille ◽  
J O'Loughlin ◽  
M Riva ◽  
M P Sylvestre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Household Food ◽  
First Time

Abstract Background Few studies investigate long-term effects of food donation programs on food insecurity, diet, social integration or health. We describe household food insecurity (HFI), health, social integration and sociodemographic characteristics of 1003 new food banks users in rural, suburban and urban areas in Quebec, Canada. Methods Adults requesting food aid for the first time in the past 6 months were recruited in 117 food aid organizations (32 in rural, 35 in suburban, 50 in urban areas) using a nested sampling technique. Baseline data were collected from Sept 2018 to Jan 2020 in computer-assisted face-to-face interviews. Participants will be followed biennially. HFI was assessed with the 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module. Perceived physical and mental health scores were assessed with the SF12V2 module. Psychological distress and social integration were assessed with the Kessler scale K6+ and a modified version of MSPSS Scale. Differences across groups were tested with Chi square, ANOVA and post-hoc tests. Results Most participants reported high levels of materiel deprivation, with some variability across settings. Severe HFI was more prevalent in rural (51%) and urban (47%) areas than in suburbs (38%). More urban participants reported <20000 CAN$/yr (79% vs 74% in suburbs and 69% in rural) although low education level was more prevalent in rural areas (82% reported <12th grade education vs. 67% in suburban and 64% in urban areas). Psychological distress was higher in the suburbs (28%) compared to urban (21%) or rural areas (22%). No differences were detected across settings in social integration or physical or mental health scores. Conclusions New users of food banks report markedly high levels of material, social and health-related deprivation. In-depth analyses will permit more meaningful interpretation of these differences. The Pathways Study will permit better understanding of the life experience of persons requesting food assistance. Key messages People demanding food aid for the first time reported high levels of materiel deprivation, with some variability across settings. Severe housefold insecurity is around 50% among new food aid demanders in rural and urban settings.

scholarly journals Food Bank Donations in the United States: A Landscape Review of Federal Policies

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3764
Author(s):  
Katelin M. Hudak ◽  
Emily Friedman ◽  
Joelle Johnson ◽  
Sara E. Benjamin-Neelon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
Food System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Food Bank ◽  
Federal Policies ◽  
Food And Beverage

Rates of food insecurity have increased substantially in the United States (US), and more families are turning to the charitable food system to help meet their needs. Prior studies have examined the nutritional quality of foods offered through food banks, but little is known about what government policies may shape the healthy food donation landscape. The purpose of this study was to review US federal policies that impact food and beverage donations to food banks and assess whether policies encourage healthy food donations. In spring 2020, two researchers independently reviewed federal food and beverage donation policies using predefined search terms in two legal databases. We identified six categories of policies based on the existing food donation literature and themes that emerged in the policy review. We identified 42 federal policies spanning six categories that addressed food and beverage donations to food banks. The largest category was “government programs,” with 19 (45%) policies. The next largest category was “donation via schools,” with 12 (29%) policies. However, no policies specifically addressed the nutritional quality of food donations. There is an opportunity for the federal government to strengthen food bank donation policies and improve the nutritional quality of donated foods and beverages.

Strategien zur Bekämpfung von Lebensmittelverschwendung im Lichte des wohlgeordneten Rechts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Wirbel
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Food Sharing ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Legal Limits ◽  
Legislative Proposal ◽  
Dumpster Diving ◽  
First Time ◽  
Legal Consequences

For the first time there is a legal investigation into food waste. Here, the measures of food sharing, food banks, Dumpster Diving and leftover restaurants are classified in the system of food and waste law and e.g the characteristics of a food business and the legal consequences are examined. In addition, based on a French regulation, a legislative proposal to combat food waste is presented and the national and european legal limits of the proposal are discussed.

The sustainability of food charity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Lambie-Mumford
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Provision ◽  
Food Charity

Chapter 5 addresses how sustainable emergency food initiatives are, in relation to the sustainability of both the availability of food to emergency food providers and the accessibility of that food to potential recipients. This chapter first of all explores the agency of emergency food providers to make food available and finds that they are constrained in significant ways by the structure of the food industry. The agency of potential emergency food recipients is also highly constrained, both in terms of accessing the projects and once within them. The sustainability of emergency food provision in terms of the availability of food through these systems and access to that food by people in need therefore appears to be particularly vulnerable. Emergency food providers and their recipients are constrained by the structures in which they operate (the food system and emergency food systems) and their ability to access the amount of food they require is ultimately determined by these structures.

scholarly journals Framing a Sustainable Local Food System—How Smaller Cities in Southern Germany Are Facing a New Policy Issue

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Baldy
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Local Food Systems ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Agenda 21 ◽  
Southern Germany ◽  
Local Food System

Since Agenda 21, the local level has become important in terms of facing global challenges through local action. One of these is ensuring the sustainability of the food system. In German politics, this is a relatively new issue even at the local level. Nevertheless, two smaller cities in southern Germany have decided to change their local food systems towards sustainability. Hence, this paper deals with questions of how local actors are framing the food system and what this means for increasing sustainability. The analysis of qualitative interviews and participant observations based on frame analysis provides deeper insights into understandings of local food systems by actors. This paper aims to explore how framings of problems, solutions and motivations provide or restrict opportunities to increase local food system sustainability. Terms like sustainability or awareness are framed differently. Using the same term to mean different things can have negative effects on the acceptance of policymaking referring to food system transformation. Besides, this paper shows that omissions within the framing counteract the development of sustainable local food policy. Hence, it is important to reflect the political implications of absent framings as well to facilitate mutual understanding and consequently, food system change.

scholarly journals Linear programming can help identify practical solutions to improve the nutritional quality of food aid

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zo J Rambeloson ◽  
Nicole Darmon ◽  
Elaine L Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Linear Programming ◽  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Saturated Fatty Acids ◽  
National Level ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Food Bank ◽  
Quality Of Food

AbstractObjectivesTo assess the nutritional quality of food aid delivered by food banks in France and to identify practical modifications to improve it.DesignNational-level data were collected for all food aid distributed by French food banks in 2004, and its nutrient content per 2000 kcal was estimated and compared with French recommendations for adults. Starting with the actual donation and allowing new foods into the food aid donation, linear programming was used to identify the minimum changes required in the actual donation to achieve the French recommendations.ResultsFrench food-bank-delivered food aid does not achieve the French recommendations for dietary fibre, ascorbic acid, vitamin D, folate, magnesium, docosahexaenoic acid, α-linolenic acid and the percentage of energy from saturated fatty acids. Linear programming analysis showed that these recommendations are achievable if more fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish were collected and less cheese, refined cereals and foods rich in fat, sugar and/or salt. In addition, new foods not previously collected are needed, particularly nuts, wholemeal bread and rapeseed oil. These changes increased the total edible weight (42%) and economic value (55%) of the food aid donation, with one-third of its edible weight coming from fruits and vegetables, one-third from staples, one-quarter from dairy products and approximately a tenth from meat/fish/eggs.ConclusionsImportant changes in the types and amounts of food collected will improve the nutritional quality of food-bank-delivered food aid in France. Such changes are recommended to improve the diets of deprived French populations.

scholarly journals Sustainable diet policy development: implications of multi-criteria and other approaches, 2008–2017

2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Lang ◽  
Pamela Mason
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Sustainable Diets ◽  
Sustainable Diet ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Uk

The objective of the present paper is to draw lessons from policy development on sustainable diets. It considers the emergence of sustainable diets as a policy issue and reviews the environmental challenge to nutrition science as to what a ‘good’ diet is for contemporary policy. It explores the variations in how sustainable diets have been approached by policy-makers. The paper considers how international United Nations and European Union (EU) policy engagement now centres on the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Change Accord, which require changes across food systems. The paper outlines national sustainable diet policy in various countries: Australia, Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Qatar, Sweden, UK and USA. While no overarching common framework for sustainable diets has appeared, a policy typology of lessons for sustainable diets is proposed, differentiating (a) orientation and focus, (b) engagement styles and (c) modes of leadership. The paper considers the particularly tortuous rise and fall of UK governmental interest in sustainable diet advice. Initial engagement in the 2000s turned to disengagement in the 2010s, yet some advice has emerged. The 2016 referendum to leave the EU has created a new period of policy uncertainty for the UK food system. This might marginalise attempts to generate sustainable diet advice, but could also be an opportunity for sustainable diets to be a goal for a sustainable UK food system. The role of nutritionists and other food science professions will be significant in this period of policy flux.

scholarly journals A simple global food system model

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 188-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Jiang ◽  
X. Cui ◽  
X. Xu ◽  
Y. Jiang ◽  
M. Rounsevell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Trade Flows ◽  
System Model ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Global Food ◽  
Socio Economic Factors ◽  
Global Food Supply

In this study, we develop a simple dimension model to construct the food system in response to the population growth, the land use change and various socio-economic developments. The model simulates the consumption and production of agricultural goods in the individual countries, and maintains the global balance of food through the international trade flows between countries. Although there are some biases in the model results at the country levels, we suggest that such a simple model is feasible for simulating the global food supply system and assessing the uncertainties coming from various environmental and socio-economic factors.  

Hungry for change: the food banking industry in Australia

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (9) ◽  
pp. 1392-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Booth ◽  
Jillian Whelan
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Food Bank ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relief System ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Over the last 20 years, food banks in Australia have expanded nationwide and are a well-organised “industry” operating as a third tier of the emergency food relief system. The purpose of this paper is to overview the expansion and operation of food banks as an additional self-perpetuating “tier” in the response to hunger. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on secondary data sourced from the internet; as well as information provided by Foodbank Australia and Food Bank South Australia (known as Food Bank SA) to outline the history, development and operation of food banks. Food banking is then critically analysed by examining the nature and framing of the social problems and policies that food banking seeks to address. This critique challenges the dominant intellectual paradigm that focuses on solving problems; rather it questions how problem representation may imply certain understandings. Findings – The issue of food banks is framed as one of food re-distribution and feeding hungry people; however, the paper argue that “the problem” underpinning the food bank industry is one of maintaining food system efficiency. Food banks continue as a neo-liberal mechanism to deflect query, debate and structural action on food poverty and hunger. Consequently their existence does little to ameliorate the problem of food poverty. Practical implications – New approaches and partnerships with stakeholders remain key challenges for food banks to work more effectively to address food poverty. Social implications – While the food bank industry remains the dominant solution to food poverty in Australia, debate will be deflected from the underlying structural causes of hunger. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the limited academic literature and minimal critique of the food bank industry in Australia. It proposes that the rapid expansion of food banks is a salient marker of government and policy failure to address food poverty.

Food charity: the ‘other’ food system

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Lambie-Mumford
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Acquisition ◽  
System P ◽  
Commercial Market ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Food Provision ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Food Charity ◽  
Accepted Form

Chapter 4 discusses how socially acceptable emergency food provision is as a means of food acquisition. This acceptability is explored through the notion of ‘otherness’ and questions around the nature of emergency food as an ‘other’ system and whether it is experienced as such by recipients. This chapter argues that emergency food provision can be said to form an identifiably other system given the ways in which it lacks key features of shopping in the commercial market (the socially accepted form of food acquisition in the UK today). Whilst these systems and the food distributed through them do still hold moral and market-based aspects of value, ultimately, emergency food systems are not only identifiably other but experientially so as well. Such systems are experienced as ‘other’ by those that have to turn to them and the experience of this ‘other’ system as exclusionary is highly problematic.

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