scholarly journals THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Local foods: Seeds for social change

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
John Ikerd
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Food System ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Local Foods ◽  
Local Food Movement ◽  
Industrial Food Production ◽  
Systemic Problems

The local food movement has grown in direct response to the industrialization of the agri-food system—and more recently in response to the industrialization of organic foods. Locavores seem to have an intuitive understanding that the enviro­nmental and public health problems associated with industrial food production must be solved within the socioeconomic context of local commu­nities. Similarly, the problems of social justice can­not be solved without addressing the larger envi­ronmental and public health problems of society. Systemic problems require systemic change, which is rarely quick and never easy. However, local community-based food systems can provide fertile seedbeds of systemic social change.

scholarly journals The health implications of distrust in the food system: findings from the dimensions of trust in food systems scale (DOTIFS scale)

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Tonkin ◽  
Trevor Webb ◽  
Julie Henderson ◽  
Paul R. Ward ◽  
John Coveney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Dietary Guidelines ◽  
Consumer Trust ◽  
Safety Practices ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Consumer trust in food systems is essential for consumers, food industry, policy makers and regulators. Yet no comprehensive tool for measuring consumer trust in food systems exists. Similarly, the impact that trust in the food system has on health-related food behaviours is yet to be empirically examined. The aim of this research was to develop a comprehensive instrument to measure trust in the food system (the Dimensions of Trust in Food Systems Scale (DOTIFS scale) and use it to explore whether trust in the food system impacts consumers’ health-related behaviours. Methods The DOTIFS scale was developed using sociological theories of trust and pre-existing instruments measuring aspects of trust. It was pilot tested and content validity was assessed with 85 participants. A mixed-methods exploration of the health-related behaviours of 18 conveniently sampled Australian consumers with differing trust scores determined by the DOTIFS scale was then conducted. During March–July 2019 shopping- and home-observations were used to assess participants’ food safety practices and exposure to public health fortification programs, while the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score determined their adherence to national dietary guidelines. Results The DOTIFS scale was found to have high comprehension, ease of use and content validity. Statistical analysis showed scale scores significantly trended as predicted by participants’ stated level of trust. Differences were found in the way individuals with more or less trust in the food system comply with national dietary guidelines, are exposed to public health fortification programs, and adhere to recommended food safety practices. Conclusions The DOTIFS scale is a comprehensive, sociologically- and empirically- informed assessment of consumer trust in food systems that can be self-administered online to large populations and used to measure changes in consumer trust over time. The differences in health-related behaviours between individuals with varying levels of trust warrant further investigation.

scholarly journals Grappling With Complex Food Systems to Reduce Obesity: A US Public Health Challenge

2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 44S-53S ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Barnhill ◽  
Anne Palmer ◽  
Christine M. Weston ◽  
Kelly D. Brownell ◽  
Kate Clancy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
State Programs

Despite 2 decades of effort by the public health community to combat obesity, obesity rates in the United States continue to rise. This lack of progress raises fundamental questions about the adequacy of our current approaches. Although the causes of population-wide obesity are multifactorial, attention to food systems as potential drivers of obesity has been prominent. However, the relationships between broader food systems and obesity are not always well understood. Our efforts to address obesity can be advanced and improved by the use of systems approaches that consider outcomes of the interconnected global food system, including undernutrition, climate change, the environmental sustainability of agriculture, and other social and economic concerns. By implementing innovative local and state programs, taking new approaches to overcome political obstacles to effect policy, and reconceptualizing research needs, we can improve obesity prevention efforts that target the food systems, maximize positive outcomes, and minimize adverse consequences. We recommend strengthening innovative local policies and programs, particularly those that involve community members in identifying problems and potential solutions and that embrace a broad set of goals beyond making eating patterns healthier. We also recommend undertaking interdisciplinary research projects that go beyond testing targeted interventions in specific populations and aim to build an understanding of the broader social, political, and economic context.

scholarly journals “When We Stand up, They Have to Negotiate with Us”: Power Relations in and between an Agroindustrial and an Indigenous Food System in Bolivia

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Jacobi ◽  
Aymara Llanque
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Food System ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Scientific Culture ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Production And Consumption

Our global food system is characterized by an increasing concentration and imbalance of power, with trade-offs between hunger, inequality, unsustainable production and consumption, and profit. A systematic analysis of power imbalances in food systems is required if we are to meet the 2030 Agenda vision of promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns and ending hunger and poverty. Such an analysis, with a view to a transformation to more sustainable and just food systems, requires tools to be developed and tested in real-life case studies of food systems. To better understand the structures and mechanisms around power in food systems, this study applies a political ecology lens. We adapted the “power cube” analysis framework that was proposed by the Institute of Development Studies for the analysis of spaces, forms, and levels of power. We apply the analysis of these three dimensions of power to two food systems in the tropical lowlands of Bolivia: one agroindustrial and one indigenous. After identifying food system actors, the food system spaces in which they interact, and what forms of power they use at what levels, we discuss some implications for an emerging scientific culture of power analyses in critical sustainability assessments. Mechanisms of hidden power undermine visible legislative power in both case studies, but in our example of an indigenous food system of the Guaraní people, visible power stays with a local community through their legally recognized and communally owned and governed territory, with important implications for the realization of the right to food.

scholarly journals Yesterday’s dinner, tomorrow’s weather, today’s news? US newspaper coverage of food system contributions to climate change

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1006-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni A Neff ◽  
Iris L Chan ◽  
Katherine Clegg Smith
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Government Responsibility ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Public Health Messages

AbstractBackgroundThere is strong evidence that what we eat and how it is produced affects climate change.ObjectiveThe present paper examines coverage of food system contributions to climate change in top US newspapers.DesignUsing a sample of sixteen leading US newspapers from September 2005 to January 2008, two coders identified ‘food and climate change’ and ‘climate change’ articles based on specified criteria. Analyses examined variation across time and newspaper, the level of content relevant to food systems’ contributions to climate change, and how such content was framed.ResultsThere were 4582 ‘climate change’ articles in these newspapers during this period. Of these, 2·4 % mentioned food or agriculture contributions, with 0·4 % coded as substantially focused on the issue and 0·5 % mentioning food animal contributions. The level of content on food contributions to climate change increased across time. Articles initially addressed the issue primarily in individual terms, expanding to address business and government responsibility more in later articles.ConclusionsUS newspaper coverage of food systems’ effects on climate change during the study period increased, but still did not reflect the increasingly solid evidence of the importance of these effects. Increased coverage may lead to responses by individuals, industry and government. Based on co-benefits with nutritional public health messages and climate change’s food security threats, the public health nutrition community has an important role to play in elaborating and disseminating information about food and climate change for the US media.

scholarly journals The Importance of a Food Systems Approach to Low and Middle Income Countries and Emerging Economies: A Review of Theories and Its Relevance for Disease Control and Malnutrition

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Alarcon ◽  
Paula Dominguez-Salas ◽  
Eric M. Fèvre ◽  
Jonathan Rushton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Our review explores the changing food production, distribution and consumption environment in low and middle-income countries and emerging economies as a basis for framing how to study food systems in order to address public health issues of food safety and nutrition. It presents the state of knowledge on existing food systems science and its use in terms of sustainable actions for food safety and public health. The review identifies a knowledge gap in food system mapping and governance, with value chain mapping of key commodities often missing. Despite a number of initiatives, the application of food systems methods is highly variable in scope and quality. Most analyses concentrate on specific commodities, rarely taking into account the need for a whole diet approach when looking at nutrition or the assessment of a range of infectious agents and their interactions when looking at food safety. Of the studies included in the review there is a growing observation of “informal” food systems, a term used inconsistently and one that requires revision. “Informal” food systems link to the formal sector to provide food security, yet with trade-offs between economic efficiencies and food safety. Efforts to improve food safety are hampered by inadequate food safety capacities and a lack of policy coherence leading to: inadequate investment; fragmented food quality control systems; weak or non-existent traceability mechanisms; weak foodborne disease surveillance; obsolete food regulation; and weak regulatory enforcement. In-depth food systems assessments can complement risk analysis to identify risky behaviors and understand institutional settings in order to improve codes of practice and enforcement. Methods for looking at food safety from a food systems perspective are emerging, yet existing nutrition and food systems science are not advancing sufficiently in response to nutritional public health problems. There is an urgency for improved understanding of the structure and drivers of the food systems, for better planning of changes that leads to nutrients access and healthy levels of eating. It is proposed that countries and international institutions provide an atlas of food system maps for the key commodities based on an agreed common methodology and developed by multidisciplinary teams.

scholarly journals From tensions to transformation: Teaching food systems in a graduate dietetics course

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Ng ◽  
Donald C Cole
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Dietetic Education ◽  
Critical Reflexivity ◽  
Migrant Farm ◽  
Field Report ◽  
The Impact

Dietitians are deeply embedded within food systems, so food systems concepts are becoming an essential component of dietetic education in Canada. Yet how can we, as educators, better prepare future dietitians to embrace the complexity of food systems and be forces of change towards equity?  In an effort to explore this question in a practical way, we integrated food systems concepts into a mandatory course of a public health graduate dietetics program. This field report shares our experiences teaching food systems over five years based on our notes kept, student feedback, and course evaluations. Our learnings have been in three key areas: intentions, facilitation, and tensions. We recognized that teaching about food systems is value-laden. Hence we have been explicit with the students about our positionality and our intentions in designing the course, partly to meet the management of food systems competency requirements, but also to stimulate thinking about alternative options for purpose, structures, and processes in food systems.  Our facilitation approaches aimed to foster a critical consciousness towards social justice and systems change. Using teaching and evaluation methods such as experiential learning, community projects, and reflection assignments, students have encountered the complexity of food systems and the challenges-opportunities they pose.  As educators, we have grappled with the tensions of challenging dominant positivist discourses in public health nutrition. Politicized topics such as migrant farm-worker regimes, industrial food production, regulation of food marketing, and mitigation of the impact of colonization have generated debates in the classroom about the role and scope of dietetic practice. Most students have situated themselves more explicitly within a food system, and some began to question hidden structures of power. While it remains challenging to address this breadth within the constraints of one course, we believe it worthwhile to model and stimulate critical reflexivity with the next generation of dietitians as critical food learners-teachers themselves. Even though the course is no longer offered using this food systems approach, course components can be integrated throughout the dietetic curriculum.

The life and contribution of Professor David Sanders through his publications

2020 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-407
Author(s):  
Tony Waterston
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Primary Healthcare ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
The Social

Professor David Sanders died in August 2019. He leaves a long legacy of analysis and teaching on global child health and public health particularly in relation to poverty and the roots of ill health, and how to tackle them. Sanders believed that the determinants of health lay in the social conditions of the population and that these had to be improved by social change and working at the grass roots rather than by top-down medical treatment with drugs; he was a strong proponent of primary healthcare as originally established by WHO and supported the appointment of community health workers who would be responsible to the local community. His work is covered in this article through a review of significant books of which the best known is The Struggle for Health and his research in the field.

scholarly journals Formulating policy activities to promote healthy and sustainable diets

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 2333-2340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A Lawrence ◽  
Sharon Friel ◽  
Kate Wingrove ◽  
Sarah W James ◽  
Seona Candy
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Nutrition Policy ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Public Health Nutrition ◽  
Sustainable Diets ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
Political Realities

AbstractObjectiveTo develop a policy formulation tool for strategically informing food and nutrition policy activities to promote healthy and sustainable diets (HSD).DesignA policy formulation tool consisting of two complementary components was developed. First, a conceptual framework of the environment–public health nutrition relationship was constructed to characterise and conceptualise the food system problem. Second, an ‘Orders of Food Systems Change’ schema drawing on systems dynamics thinking was developed to identify, assess and propose policy options to redesign food systems.SettingFood and nutrition policy activities to promote HSD have been politicised, fragmented and lacking a coherent conceptual and strategic focus to tackle complex food system challenges.ResultsThe tool’s conceptual framework component comprises three integrated dimensions: (i) a structure built around the environment and public health nutrition relationship that is mediated via the food system; (ii) internal mechanisms that operate through system dynamics; and (iii) external interactions that frame its nature and a scope within ecological parameters. The accompanying schema is structured around three orders of change distinguished by contrasting ideological perspectives on the type and extent of change needed to ‘solve’ the HSD problem.ConclusionsThe conceptual framework’s systems analysis of the environment–public health nutrition relationship sets out the food system challenges for HSD. The schema helps account for political realities in policy making and is a key link to operationalise the framework’s concepts to actions aimed at redesigning food systems. In combination they provide a policy formulation tool to strategically inform policy activities to redesign food systems and promote HSD.

scholarly journals The reinterpretation of the agri-food system and its spatial dynamics through the industrial district

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 510-519
Author(s):  
F. Sforzi ◽  
M.C. Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Food System ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Industrial District ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
The Relationship

The industrial district theory has brought to the development economics the opportunity to interpret the economic change through places, where it actually is formed, as a result of the join action of the local and extra-local social, economic and institutional forces. This paper sets out to discuss the contribution that the industrial district theory can make to the debate on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems in the age of globalisation. To this end, the first part of the paper analyses the contribution of the industrial district approach in the relationship between industry and territory; the second part studies the evolution of the concept of the agri-food system and the main determinants of the spatial dynamics in modern agri food systems. This paper supports that the industrial district theory can shed a new light on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems, and can offer an alternative to the mainstream approach. In using the local community as a unit of analysis, the ID theory gives a key role to human agents of production and their knowledge and the agri-food system can be seen as ‘a global network of places’, each place being specialized in a different component of the system.  

scholarly journals The Nature and Quality of Australian Supermarkets’ Policies that can Impact Public Health Nutrition, and Evidence of their Practical Application: A Cross-Sectional Study

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pulker ◽  
Trapp ◽  
Scott ◽  
Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Health Benefit ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Public Health Nutrition ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Practical Applications

Improving population diets is a public health priority, and calls have been made for corporations such as supermarkets to contribute. Supermarkets hold a powerful position within the food system, and one source of power is supermarket own brand foods (SOBFs). Many of the world’s largest supermarkets have corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies that can impact public health, but little is known about their quality or practical application. This study examines the nature and quality of Australian supermarkets’ CSR policies that can impact public health nutrition, and provides evidence of practical applications for SOBFs. A content analysis of CSR policies was conducted. Evidence of supermarkets putting CSR policies into practice was derived from observational audits of 3940 SOBFs in three large exemplar supermarkets (Coles, Woolworths, IGA) in Perth, Western Australia (WA). All supermarkets had some CSR policies that could impact public health nutrition; however, over half related to sustainability, and many lacked specificity. All supermarkets sold some nutritious SOBFs, using marketing techniques that made them visible. Findings suggest Australian supermarket CSR policies are not likely to adequately contribute to improving population diets or sustainability of food systems. Setting robust and meaningful targets, and improving transparency and specificity of CSR policies, would improve the nature and quality of supermarket CSR policies and increase the likelihood of a public health benefit.

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