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Chapter 11: Food Insecurity and Food Waste

“There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Physiologically, hunger is the body’s response to a need for nourishment. Through stomach discomfort or intestinal rumbling, the body alerts the brain that it requires food. This uneasy sensation is easily addressed with a snack or a full meal. However, the term “hunger” also relates to a weakened condition that is a consequence of a prolonged lack of food. People who suffer from this form of hunger typically experience malnourishment, along with poor growth and development. Hunger and malnutrition occur in every country in the world. At the same time, it is estimated that more than 30% of food in the US is discarded uneaten.

Learning Objectives

  1. Define food security and food insecurity including the various levels of insecurity.
  2. Describe who is affected by food insecurity in the US and the world and why.
  3. Define food deserts and food swamps.
  4. Differentiate among programs in the US that address food insecurity.
  5. Describe the problem of food waste and interventions for its reduction.

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Nutrition Essentials Copyright © by Susan Kazen MS, MPH, RD and Megan Grimsley PhD, RD, LD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.