International

For the past few weeks I’ve been collecting reports on food security.  I’ve already posted the most recent report on worldwide trends (not good) from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Here are two more on global trends:

• Progress and Challenges in Global Food Security: USDA/ERS researchers analyze the roles of trade, agricultural productivity, safety nets, and better data and measurement in achieving achieving gains in global food security.
• The World Food Crisis: The Way Out (2017/10th Anniversary Issue).  This comes from Right to Food and Nutrition Watch and includes their reports from the last 10 years.

In an editorial triggered by the FAO report, The Lancet announces a major effort to address global food security:

In 2018, The Lancet will launch four food-related initiatives: the EAT-Lancet Commission, the LancetObesity Commission, a Series on health and agriculture, and a Series on the double burden of malnutrition. Each of these projects will reinforce a different aspect of the global call for equitable and sustainable provision of food to be a priority: recommending how policy makers approach food systems inclusive of health, cultural respect, agriculture, production, transport, trade, and retailing.

U.S. Domestic

In the meantime, food security remains a significant issue in the U.S., as indicated by this collection of recent reports, mostly from USDA:

• Food Security in the U.S.: Food security—access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life—is one requirement for a healthy, well-nourished population. ERS plays a leading role in Federal research on food security in U.S. households and communities.
• Food Security in the United States: This product provides information about publicly available data from national surveys that include the U.S. Food Security Survey Module. Technical information is provided to facilitate appropriate use of the data, and links are provided to access data on line or to order the data files on CD-ROM.
• Household Food Security in the United States in 2016: An estimated 12.3 percent of American households were food insecure at some time during the year in 2016, lacking access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all their members; essentially unchanged from 12.7 percent in 2015.
• Statistical Supplement to Household Food Security in the United States in 2016:  This is the statistical supplement for USDA’s annual report on households’ access to adequate food for active, healthy living.
• Food Insecurity, Chronic Disease, and Health Among Working-Age Adults: Lower food security is associated with higher probability of 10 chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, cancer) and is more strongly predictive of chronic illnesses than income in some cases.  In some cases, food insecurity is more closely related to chronic disease, than is income.
• Understanding the Prevalence, Severity, and Distribution of Food Insecurity in the United States  
• PBS News Hour Twitter Chat titled “What it means to be hungry in America:  ERS tweeted responses to questions from News Hour and shared links to ERS research. You can find a summary of that Twitter Chat here.
• The Effects of Energy Price Shocks on Household Food Security in Low-Income Households: This study shows that an unexpected rise in the prices of gasoline, natural gas, and electricity increases the probability of food insecurity and other food access problems, while an unexpected drop in the price of each energy source decreases the probability. Low-income households are more vulnerable to energy price shocks than households with higher incomes.  An Amber Waves magazine article was published in conjunction with this report.
• USDA’s National School Lunch Program Reduces Food Insecurity 
• Adults With Disabilities, Especially Mental Health Disabilities, Are at a Higher Risk for Food Insecurity

Where are we in obesity prevalence?  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), are keeping score for us.   Their report gives figures state by state.  Since I live in New York, I’m highlighting its figures.

ADULT OBESITY PREVALENCE

This looks like good news.  The increase is slowing down and maybe trends are leveling off at long last.

CHILDREN’S PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY

This also looks hopeful.  The prevalence is level or declining in most states.

But, as Richard Besser of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and John Auerbach of Trust For America’s Health explain in an editorial in The Hill,

One of the best ways to bring down those adult obesity rates in every state is to prevent children from becoming overweight or obese in the first place…Unfortunately, there are signs that we are moving in the wrong direction—and not just on school meals…These kinds of threats put at grave risk the progress our nation has achieved. To accelerate progress in addressing obesity, we urge policymakers to support proven programs like school meals and SNAP that put kids on a healthier track for their entire lives, and maintain full funding for agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that are responsible for protecting the health of kids and adults nationwide.

The Rodale Institute has a new Regenerative Organic certification program with four requirements that include but go beyond those for USDA Certified Organic:

• Increase soil organic matter over time, and potentially sequester carbon in the soil
• Improve animal welfare
• Provide economic stability and fairness for farmers, ranchers, and workers
• Create resilient regional ecosystems and communities

An Infographic illustrates how it works.  It’s based on three pillars:

This program seems to address most of the major criticisms of USDA’s National Organic Program.   I will be interested to see whether farmers sign on for it.

I’m in Europe this week so especially interested in its public health efforts. This report is an example.

Healthy and Sustainable Diets for European Countries. Report of a Working Group. EUPHA (European Public Health Association), 2017.

The purpose of this report is to encourage public health professionals to promote policies that will enable individuals to make healthier food choices.  It’s a long report, but summarizes its goals in one quick table:

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has just released its annual report on food security, country-by-country.

After years of decline, the new uptick is alarming.

Why is this happening?  In a word, conflict.

• The number of conflicts is also on the rise.  Exacerbated by climate-related shocks, conflicts seriously affect food security and are a cause of much of the recent increase in food insecurity.
• Conflict is a key driver of situations of severe food crisis and recently re-emerged famines, while hunger and undernutrition are significantly worse where conflicts are prolonged and institutional capacities weak.
• Addressing food insecurity and malnutrition in conflict-affected situations cannot be “business as usual”. It requires a conflict-sensitive approach that aligns actions for immediate humanitarian assistance, long-term development and sustaining peace.

Is sugar under siege?

The sugar industry must think so.

Take a look at these recent industry reports:

• International Sugar Organization: An Evaluation of the Global Sugar Market Environment
• American Sugar Alliance: Sugar Market Outlook
• Sosland Publishing: Consumer Trends and Industry Response 
• Mintel: Trends in sugar, sugar reduction, and sweeteners
• Rabobank: Sweetness and Lite: How Vulnerable is Global Sugar Consumption to Food & Beverage Trends?
• The Sugar Association: The New State of Play for Sugar: Trends, Policy, Consumption and Activism 

Here’s what the sugar industry is worried about, according to The Sugar Association:

I wrote the Foreword to Eric Holt Giménez’s Foodies Guide to Capitalism: Understanding the Political Economy of What We Eat.  

His book won’t be out for a few weeks, but Food First, the organization he heads, has published my Foreword as a Backgrounder, titled The Capitalism in Our Food.

Here’s how it begins:

When Eric Holt-Giménez asked me to introduce his Foodie’s Guide to Capitalism, I said yes right away. I love the title, I think the food movement needs this book, and I am tired of having to treat capitalism as the “C-word,”never to be mentioned in polite company. Those of us “foodies” who love to eat and want our food system to produce tastier, healthier, and more sustainable diets—and to provide a decent living to everyone involved in this work—need to bring capitalism out of the closet, understand the problems it causes, and deal with them front and
center. Eric (if I may) has done us an enormous favor by producing this book at this time.

And here’s the pull-quote:

The USDA announces:  2016 Sales of U.S. Certified Organic Agricultural Production Up 23 Percent from Previous Year

Sales of organic agricultural production continued to increase in 2016, when U.S. farms produced and sold $7.6 billion in certified organic commodities….

Results of the 2016 Certified Organic Survey show that 2016 sales were up 23 percent from $6.2 billion in 2015.

During the same year, the number of certified organic farms in the country increased 11 percent to 14,217, and the number of certified acres increased 15 percent to 5.0 million.

The top commodities in 2016 were:

• Milk – $1.4 billion, up 18 percent
• Eggs – $816 million, up 11 percent
• Broiler chickens – $750 million, up 78 percent
• Apples – $327 million, up 8 percent
• Lettuce – $277 million, up 6 percent

And here’s a quick look at the trend: