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IMF Managing Director Welcomes the Creation of A New Food Shock Window to Help Countries Address Food Insecurity International Monetary FundView Full Coverage on Google News Article From & Read More ( IMF Managing Director Welcomes the Creation of A New Food Shock Window to Help Countries Address Food Insecurity - International Monetary Fund )The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday that it is proposing changes to its definition of “healthy.” The FDA’s definition of healthy defines criteria for when foods can use the word on their packaging, and has been a hotly debated topic in the food world for years.
According to the FDA, the proposed changes “would align the definition of the ‘healthy’ claim with current nutrition science.” The FDA said in a news release that more than 80% of Americans aren’t eating enough fruits, vegetables, and dairy. At the same time, most people are having too much added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. The proposed changes, the FDA says, will try to help people improve their nutrition and dietary patterns “to help reduce the burden of chronic disease and advance health equity.”
“Healthy food can lower our risk for chronic disease,” said Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “But too many people may not know what constitutes healthy food. FDA’s move will help educate more Americans to improve health outcomes, tackle health disparities and save lives.”
The proposed rule would update the “healthy” definition to look at how nutrients in different food groups work to create healthy eating patterns and improve overall health. More foods would be part of the healthy eating pattern under the proposed definition, including nuts and seeds, fish like salmon that’s higher in fat, certain oils, and water.
“It's about time,” says Jessica Cording, M.S., R.D., author of The Little Book of Game-Changers. “This has been a long time coming.”
KIND Snacks, which has pushed for a change to the FDA’s definition of “healthy” for years and created a Citizen’s Petition in 2015, also applauded the move. “When we first petitioned the FDA in 2015, we sought to correct outdated regulations and advocate for wholesome, nutrient-dense foods, such as almonds and avocados, and we're thrilled that these foods are finally being recognized as an important part of our diet,” Daniel Lubetzky, founder and chief impact officer at KIND, said in a statement.
It’s a little confusing that there would be debate about what, exactly, is “healthy,” but experts say it's more complicated than many people realize. Here’s what you need to know.
The FDA’s proposed definition would require foods to meet the following criteria in order to use the term “healthy” on a product label:
An example: Under the new definition, a cereal would have to contain ¾ ounces of whole grains and have no more than 1 gram of saturated fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, and 2.5 grams of added sugars to be defined as “healthy.”
Nutritionists agree that this change is important—and complicated. “The term ‘healthy’ is very situational,” says Gina Keatley, a certified dietitian nutritionist practicing in New York City. “What is going to be healthy for an athlete preparing for a marathon or to ride a century is going to be different from an elderly individual with uncontrolled diabetes and obesity.”
Keri Gans, M.S., R.D., author of The Small Change Diet, says the change is “long overdue,” noting that “as it stands now, many foods with nutritional benefits—for example heart healthy monounsaturated fats found in many foods, such as nuts, seeds and avocado—were not deemed eligible to be called healthy.”
Cording calls the updated definition “well-intentioned.”
“The goal to help people eat more vegetables, fruit, less sugar, less saturated fat, and sodium is a good one,” she continues. ‘What's tricky is that different types of foods might fit one of those categories but not others. It’s not a one size fits all thing.”
The FDA’s definition of healthy food also “promotes the creation of foods rather than using whole foods,” Keatley says, “since these whole foods are likely missing one or more of the required nutrients.”
The term “healthy” is also “subjective,” points out Beth Warren, R.D., founder of Beth Warren Nutrition and author of Secrets of a Kosher Girl. “It is subjective to a person’s own interpretation vs. a set of uniform standards and benchmarks,” she says. “Healthy can mean something without chemicals or preservatives, something that benefits a person’s health, or someone’s own interpretation of what healthy means.”
Overall, experts stress that this is largely about a definition used on processed—not whole—foods.
“If an individual wants to eat healthier, they should simply focus more on what they could add to their diet, such as fruits, veggies, legumes, 100% whole grains, heart-healthy fats, and ample protein, leaving less room to worry about what they should limit,” Gans says.
“A label is just a piece of paper,” Cording says. Still, if you want to eat healthier, she recommends focusing on nutrient-dense, whole foods while limiting added sugars. “I recommend an 85/15 approach to healthy food, where the majority of foods are nourishing and provide what you need, but there’s a little room for pleasure,” she says. “A label is just one thing to consider.”
Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.
ROME — The international community can no longer ignore the cries of the poor and the hungry who fall victim to food loss and waste, Pope Francis said.
In a Sept. 29 message to Qu Dongyu, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, the pope lamented the “paradox of abundance” — that there is enough food to feed the world population, but millions continue to starve due to its improper management and distribution.
And “food cannot be the object of speculation,” he wrote, referring to the betting on future food prices by financial markets. “Life depends on it. And it is a scandal that large producers encourage compulsive consumerism to enrich themselves, without even considering the real needs of human beings.”
“Food speculation must be stopped! We must stop treating food, which is a fundamental good for all, as a bargaining chip for a few,” he said.
The pope’s message to Qu coincided with the U.N. International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
FAO said the international day highlights a “clear call to action for public and private entities from across the food system to act now to reduce (food loss and waste) and raise awareness among consumers of the urgent need for actions they can take to cut food waste.”
In his message, the pope said access to food is “a basic and fundamental right of every person,” and the loss and waste of food “is truly shameful and worrying.”
“Both food loss and food waste are truly deplorable events because they divide humanity between those who have too much and those who lack the essentials; because they increase inequalities, generate injustice and deny the poor what they need to live in dignity,” he wrote.
Pope Francis called on the international community to not “be satisfied with rhetorical exercises, which end up in declarations that later fail to be carried out due to forgetfulness, pettiness or greed.”
Instead, he said, it is time for nations and international organizations “to act urgently for the common good.”
“It is urgent for both states and large multinational corporations, for associations and individuals — for all, excluding no one — to respond effectively and honestly to the heart-rending cry of the hungry who are demanding justice,” the pope said.
Article From & Read More ( Food cannot be used as 'bargaining chip,' pope says - Crux Now )
Art: Susan Chen
Last year, I visited a relative’s house in New Jersey. He and his wife grew up in Bangalore, and a recent kitchen renovation set the stage for the reveal of a larger transformation that had been quietly underway for years. They detailed the many moves that had gone into building their ideal pantry, spice routes forged with relatives back in India, tireless expeditions to local Indo-Pak grocery stores until the choicest brands and items had been identified through trial and error, the studied deployment of an Instant Pot in such military action that fresh yogurt and ghee were always on hand, not to mention dal and rice. As I took in this simulation — a Bangalore kitchen, painstakingly re-created — I felt a twinge of anxiety. It seemed improbable that I’d ever meet someone who would be interested in shaping a life and a kitchen that so poetically transports a person to that other place. Not that I desired such an outcome, exactly, but nevertheless I felt its unlikelihood as a loss.
If you are a member of the Asian diaspora in America, the push-pull around foodstuffs may be a tension you recognize. On the one hand, there is the desire to maintain a connection to the ancestral land. On the other, a sense that too much weight is placed on food as a source of meaning and identity. There’s an impulse to share and celebrate all the culinary wonders of an inheritance and to bristle when some wellness influencer mispronounces turmeric or khichdi.
The formula is written into our mythology. Consider the lunchbox moment, a narrative trope in which the Asian kid realizes her Asianness, her difference, when she is bullied in the school cafeteria for the “exotic” meal her unwitting parents have prepared. Flashforward to adulthood: Food becomes a mode of reclamation from the white bullies (who now probably fetishize those same dishes they once mocked, all that pungent kimchee and curry) as well as a thread to the parent and the lost country. In both scenarios, food holds the key to a sense of self.
Why, though? Surely other minority groups possess their own lunchbox moments while Asian communities possess diverging legacies. But Asian food has crowded out Asian languages, arts, philosophies, and other cultural binding agents to become an object of jealous focus that must be protected from Alison Roman–esque neocolonialists who dare use yogurt or fish sauce. If the Twitterverse is to be taken seriously, the common American mistake chai tea — two words that mean the same thing — holds the source code for all second-gen South Asian pain, offending even the many well settled among us. Offline, “boba liberalism,” to borrow a neat term for consumption-based Asian American identitarianism, plays out via a reservation at some new “It” restaurant or a purchase of the right book.
After the hyperregional Indian restaurant Dhamaka went up in Manhattan last year, a tone of reverence crept into the voices of South Asian foodies trying to snag a table, as if a meal might contribute not only to one’s social currency but to one’s self-development. Then there are the many food-centric memoirs and identity-focused cookbooks that promise Asian American readers self-knowledge, community, and a lifestyle glow-up of the most profound order, all in the space of a few hundred pages. “A beautiful, holy place, full of people from all over the world who have been displaced in a foreign country, each with a different history,” the artist Michelle Zauner called the Korean food chain H Mart in her blockbuster 2021 memoir, Crying in H Mart, a text that shows the undeniable poetry of the relationship between food and the self. Zauner, whose father is white and mother was Korean, speaks little Korean, she writes, yet feels an almost excruciating intimacy with certain dishes that remind her of her deceased mother. This quest to heal a loss — of a parent but also an ethnic identity — takes place in a literal grocery store.
In the digital sphere, Asian food culture is often performed in front of others in WhatsApp chains, Instagram posts, and Twitter rants. Sometimes it can seem as if make-believe countries have been drummed into existence for commercial purposes. One example has stuck with me, an error in an Instagram caption by a food influencer who originally hails from an Indian state that borders the one my parents are from. She’d posted a photo praising a delicacy named after a city in my family’s state. The item comes from there. But in her caption, she laid claim to the dish. She said it was her people who had invented it, though the evidence to the contrary was right there in the name. I wondered if this person actually believed the dish must belong to her simply because she’d anointed herself a purveyor of Indian delicacies to non-Indian consumers. What struck me was not only how convenient the error was for her purposes but also how convinced she must have been of it to make it, how susceptible to an altered, cleaner version of reality, one where India is a unitary thing, not divided by region, language, caste, and ethnicity. Food, as a medium, feels singularly effective as a means to sand the edges off a homeland, to turn that mythic place into a smooth commodity rather than an unknowable, dissonant land.
The appeals of food are also shortcomings as a foundation for identity. Food is a quick way to engage with a culture; it’s literally consumed! It poses simpler challenges, perhaps, than learning a lost language or filling great gaps in historical knowledge. The consumable nature of food allows it to be stolen by onlookers and outsiders, its meaning cheapened and diluted. Anyone, after all, can make a curry or a pork bun if they want to—or buy one.
Moreover, food’s deep associations with comfort and nostalgia offer a shortcut that is deceptive. If being a good Asian American progressive means participating in soothing food theater, there is less need to consider one’s heritage with a sense of ambivalence or question the harmful hierarchies within Asian diasporic communities. Food makes displacement the point of commonality. And it’s a misleading one — we all experienced it, so we all must face the same challenges.
At some time after that moment in Jersey, I realized that the search for the self through cuisine is often a source of anxiety with questionable results. No matter how hard I tried, I could not replicate the dishes my parents made in our home every night when I was growing up. I couldn’t figure out how to manage my grocery lists so those dishes would ever be anything but a novelty item to be made when I had huge swathes of time and energy. I realized that I couldn’t be somewhere else. I could only be where I was. And I began to relax, to let go of a need to stay rooted in some contrived way. I was born in America, and I was going to start making food in a different way from the people who brought me here.
It so happens that my energy has turned elsewhere. Lately, I have been revisiting myths from my childhood that hold some promise of wisdom. One feels particularly insistent: the story of Eklavya, a talented low-caste boy who is casually exploited by the heroes of the Mahabharata. Eklavya perseveres to become an excellent archer, but Dronacharya, the royal teacher, demands that he saw off his thumb so Prince Arjuna can maintain his superiority. In this difficult, gemlike parable, I see a map to understand the nature of the Indian caste system, still ruthlessly at work today, and of power dynamics worldwide. I feel at turns awed by the narrative sophistication and distressed by the view it offers — of society but also of my place in it. Like so many of the best stories, this one leaves a rich and bitter aftertaste that all but resists an audience. One must work hard to appreciate it.
Article From & Read More ( Why Does Asian Identity Revolve So Tightly Around Food? - Grub Street )
Groceries cost 13.5% more than they did a year ago. Nearly 25 million adults live in households where there isn’t always enough to eat. Some 40% of food banks saw increased demand this summer.
At a time when the affordability of food is in the spotlight, the Biden administration is hosting a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health on Wednesday with the goal of combating food insecurity and diet-related diseases.
Overall, food insecurity has declined since former President Richard Nixon convened the first and only White House conference on food, nutrition and health in 1969, which led to nationwide expansions of the food stamp and school meals programs and the creation of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, among other changes. General economic growth and the reduction in poverty have also contributed to the improvements in food security in recent decades.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring inflation have increased the attention paid to food insecurity in the US over the past two years. The Biden administration released a 44-page playbook on Tuesday aimed at the “bold goal” of ending hunger by 2030 and increasing healthy eating and physical activity to reduce diet-related diseases.
Among the key proposals: expand free school meals to 9 million more children by 2032; allow more people to qualify for food stamps; broaden the Summer Expanded Benefit Transfer program to more kids; increase funding for nutrition programs for senior citizens; and improve transportation to and from grocery stores and farmer’s markets, among other initiatives. Many of the efforts would need approval from Congress.
President Joe Biden is expected to announce at the conference more than $8 billion in private and public sector commitments as part of the administration’s call to action. More than 100 organizations are participating, including hospitals and health care associations, tech companies, philanthropies and the food industry.
At least $2.5 billion will be invested in start-up companies that are focused on solutions to hunger and food insecurity, according to the White House. More than $4 billion will be dedicated toward philanthropic efforts to improve access to nutritious food, promote healthy choices and increase physical activity.
Congress has poured billions into special pandemic assistance programs aimed at enabling struggling Americans to have enough food to feed themselves and their families – even as millions of jobs were lost in 2020.
“That’s why it’s so consequential that at the onset of the Covid-19 recession, the combination of fiscal support to households – whether it is from the economic impact payments, unemployment insurance, refundable tax credits, enhanced SNAP benefits or pandemic EBT – all combined to prevent an increase in food insecurity over the past two years,” said Lauren Bauer, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.
The pandemic aid, particularly a temporary enhancement to the child tax credit, helped keep kids fed last year, Bauer and anti-hunger advocates maintain.
Food insecurity among children fell in 2021, reversing a spike during the first year of the pandemic, according to a recent US Department of Agriculture report. Some 6.2% of households with children were unable at times to provide adequate, nutritious food for their kids last year, compared with 7.6% in 2020, the report found. Last year’s rate was not significantly different than the 2019 share.
And the prevalence of food insecurity in the families who have kids dropped to 12.5% last year, the lowest since at least 1998, the earliest year that comparable records exist.
But elderly Americans living alone and childless households both experienced an increase in food insecurity last year, the report found.
Overall, the share of households contending with food insecurity remained statistically the same in 2021 as the year before.
This lack of improvement in general food insecurity despite the surge in federal spending on food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, is a red flag for Angela Rachidi, senior fellow in poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
“When the solution is always ‘let’s just spend more on SNAP or spend more on school lunch or WIC,’ I think that that’s not always the best use of federal dollars,” she said.
Rachidi would like to see more of an emphasis on nutrition and healthy eating, which are among the pillars of the White House conference.
“Many more people in the US die from diet-related disease than die from hunger,” she said, noting the health problems caused by obesity, diabetes and other conditions.
The pandemic aid that helped keep Americans afloat has largely been exhausted, and Congress has shown little appetite to dole out more assistance – even as high inflation is squeezing many families.
The share of people who say they live in households where there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat in the last seven days has climbed to 11.5%, according to the most recent US Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey conducted in late July and early August.
That’s up from the 10.2% recorded by the survey in late December and early January, just after the final monthly child tax credit payment was distributed. The share had been even lower in the late summer and early fall of 2021, when the monthly installments were being sent.
Meanwhile, shopping in the supermarket is taking a bigger bite out of people’s wallets. Egg prices have skyrocketed nearly 40% over the past year, while flour is 23% costlier. Milk and bread are up 17% and 16% respectively, while chicken is nearly 17% more expensive.
Starting next month, it will be a little easier for those in the food stamp program to afford groceries because the annual inflation adjustment will kick in. Beneficiaries will see an increase in benefits of 12%, or an average of $26 per person, per month. This comes on top of last year’s revision to the Thrifty Food Plan, upon which benefits are based, which raised the average monthly payment by $36 per person.
Still, the upward march in prices has driven more people to food pantries, which are also struggling to stock the shelves amid higher prices.
Some 40% of food banks reported seeing an increase in the number of people served in July compared with June, according to a survey conducted by Feeding America, which has more than 60,000 food pantries, meal programs and partner agencies in its network. The average increase was about 10% more people. Another 40% said demand remained about level.
Many food pantries don’t have the resources to meet this increased demand, said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Feeding America’s CEO, noting that she’s seen sites with nearly empty shelves but long lines out the door.
The network provided 1.4 billion fewer meals in the fiscal year ending June 30 than the year before.
The USDA announced earlier this month that it will provide nearly $1.5 billion in additional funding for emergency food assistance, which will help alleviate the supply shortages at food banks and pantries.
However, Feeding America feels more should be done. It recently surveyed nearly 36,000 people for their recommendations to end hunger. Many felt that food stamp benefits should be increased and eligibility should be expanded. Nearly half felt their communities need more food pantries, grocery stores and fresh food.
The recent infusion of federal funds will help pantries distribute more food, though it doesn’t completely close the gap. And it will take time for the supplies to arrive, Babineaux-Fontenot said.
“Today, people are going to be looking for ways to feed themselves and their family, and there will be scarce resources for them to do that,” she said.
CNN’s Allie Malloy and Nikki Carvajal contributed to this story.
Article From & Read More ( White House seeks to tackle food insecurity at first hunger conference since 1969 - CNN )
As the White House launches an historic summit to combat food inequality on Wednesday, some tech companies are already taking steps to provide home delivery services for people who need food.
The big picture: Food banks have increasingly relied on donated services from DoorDash and Amazon as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how many people in the U.S. don’t have enough to eat, a problem that has persisted even as the pandemic wanes.
Driving the news: The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health is the first such event since the Nixon administration, with a goal of ending food insecurity in the U.S. in eight years.
What's happening: DoorDash's Project DASH provides local delivery services to food banks to reach people in need.
What they're saying: "COVID was a reawakening of how much local delivery can really have an impact within nonprofits," Brittany Graunke, DoorDash Drive director, told Axios.
Zoom in: The Food Bank of Delaware says the home delivery service has become a vital distribution method, and it's shifting its model from mass distribution sites to more home deliveries.
Likewise, Hunger Free Pennsylvania is making about 6,000 deliveries a month to seniors via DoorDash, and said about 25% of its program is delivery now. It's expected to grow to 30% or 40%.
Zoom out: A lack of reliable transportation was an issue pre-pandemic for people experiencing food scarcity, but the pandemic increased the challenges, Minerva Delgado, director of coalitions and advocacy for the Alliance to End Hunger told Axios.
Between the lines: While gig economy businesses like DoorDash say they grow local economies and empower workers with flexible opportunities, these companies have also been criticized for paying low wages or even promoting worker inequality.
The intrigue: The explosion of interest in home delivery has raised questions about how long the services can be free.
What's next: Food advocacy organizations are gearing up for next year's farm bill, and hoping policy makers will ease regulations to make home delivery services more feasible.
For the month of October, the Campus Food Pantry is seeking donations of breakfast items, including cereal, muffin mix, pancake and waffle mix, Pop-Tarts, oatmeal, grits and granola bars. Donations can be dropped off at the Melton Student Center, Suite 1115 from 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday. Hours and more information about the Campus Food Pantry can be found here.
Submitted by: Student Affairs
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PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Rising food costs aren’t just impacting us at home or when we dine out, it’s forcing some schools to change menus and increase meal prices.
“Our milk price alone went up four cents a carton, which you think what’s four cents, but four cents times 3-million cartons in a year is quite high for us,” Sandra Schossow, Peoria Unified’s Food and Nutrition Director, said.
During the last two years, school meals were free to all kids nationwide regardless of family income, but that pandemic-era free meal program has ended. Many schools now charge for meals unless a family qualifies for free and reduced lunch.
Schossow says it’s been a struggle making sure all parents understand the change.
“We still have parents that say wait meals are not free for everyone? We want to make sure that they know that yes, you can still get it if you apply, but it’s not free for everyone. It was a challenge to get that information out,” Schossow said.
Peoria Unified School District says food costs are up around 30% this year.
“It’s really been your chicken products, beef products, even eggs have gone up. Since chicken nuggets and chicken patties are such big staples in school lunch, that’s where you feel some of the biggest hits,” Schossow said.
The Department of Agriculture is helping to offset the costs by providing additional temporary funding. Because of that, Peoria Unified didn’t increase meal prices to students this year even though some Valley school districts did.
“We still want to make sure that we’re always giving quality food to our kids, giving them good options, not shortchanging our kids because of food costs. We have made sure that we look at our labor, we look at the meals,” Schossow said.
Schossow says it’s been a struggle making sure all parents understand the change.
“We still have parents that weight meals are not free for everyone. We want to make sure that they know that yes, you can still get it if you apply, but it’s not free for everyone. It was a challenge to get that information out,” Schossow said.
Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
Article From & Read More ( Arizona schools deal with increasing food costs, supply issues - Arizona's Family )Despite higher food price concerns, consumers will pay a premium for food that contributes to their health and wellness
NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
Key takeaways
Why this matters
With inflation top of mind, it is difficult for consumers to look beyond price. However, according to Deloitte's annual report on fresh food, consistent demand for products that foster health and wellness may provide a ray of light for the industry to influence where and how they shop. The report, "Fresh Food as Medicine for the Heartburn of High Prices," examines the impact of inflation on consumers' food purchases and how fresh food producers and grocers can adapt to drive new opportunities. The report is based on a survey conducted in July 2022 of 2,054 adults (aged 18 to 70) who influenced fresh food purchases in their households.
Price continues to be the main driver among the three Ps
While three factors drive shifts in what and how consumers purchase fresh food — price, perishability, and preference — price dominates amid inflation. Although anxiety about shopping in-store due to the pandemic declined, shopping stress is on the rise again, up eight percentage points from 2021. The top cause of shopping stress overwhelmingly is concern over rising food prices (53%), followed by a change in personal financial situation (13%).
Consumers realize the potential benefits of food as medicine
It's no surprise food matters when it comes to health and wellness. According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), an unhealthy diet is the leading risk factor for death as it exacerbates some chronic health conditions. Putting food to use in preventing and treating specific health needs creates an opportunity for the fresh food industry to further connect with consumers while improving the top and bottom lines. The industry can also help households that face health equity challenges exacerbated by inflation. Food insecurity itself is strongly correlated with adverse health outcomes.
Key quote
"Despite inflation and rising food costs, consumers are willing to pay for fresh food that will positively impact their health and wellness. Amid increasing competition, fresh food producers and retailers have the opportunity to introduce consumers to healthy choices and use food as medicine. Grocers who can close the information gap between fresh food and its health outcomes can be better positioned to win over consumers — and compete on aspects other than price."
— Daniel Edsall, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Trust in food retailers is key to progress
While consumers want to use food as medicine, 62% cite conflicting information and confusion about the healthfulness of specific foods. Four in 10 consumers do not clearly understand which fresh foods can act like medicine, and a little over half of consumers (52%) say it is essential to get data about food origins, safety, and nutritional properties to use food as medicine confidently. Fortunately, many consumers seem to have a high degree of trust in their favorite food retailers to overcome these barriers.
Key quote
"Using food as medicine is one of the ways consumers can be empowered to take control of their health. However, not every household has equal access to or can afford to pay higher prices for fresh, healthy foods which is a factor that contributes to health inequities and poorer health outcomes. We recognize that grocers and other stakeholders have an important role to play in supporting the health and wellness of their communities by helping to ensure their customers benefit from the connection between healthy foods and good health."
— Jay Bhatt, D.O., MPH, MPA, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and the Deloitte Health Equity Institute
Connect with us on Twitter at @DeloitteCB or on LinkedIn @DannyEdsall.
About Deloitte
Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace—delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Building on more than 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's more than 415,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.
SOURCE Deloitte
Article From & Read More ( Deloitte: Healthy Eating Creates New Opportunities for Growth in Fresh Food - PR Newswire )Despite higher food price concerns, consumers will pay a premium for food that contributes to their health and wellness
NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
Key takeaways
Why this matters
With inflation top of mind, it is difficult for consumers to look beyond price. However, according to Deloitte's annual report on fresh food, consistent demand for products that foster health and wellness may provide a ray of light for the industry to influence where and how they shop. The report, "Fresh Food as Medicine for the Heartburn of High Prices," examines the impact of inflation on consumers' food purchases and how fresh food producers and grocers can adapt to drive new opportunities. The report is based on a survey conducted in July 2022 of 2,054 adults (aged 18 to 70) who influenced fresh food purchases in their households.
Price continues to be the main driver among the three Ps
While three factors drive shifts in what and how consumers purchase fresh food — price, perishability, and preference — price dominates amid inflation. Although anxiety about shopping in-store due to the pandemic declined, shopping stress is on the rise again, up eight percentage points from 2021. The top cause of shopping stress overwhelmingly is concern over rising food prices (53%), followed by a change in personal financial situation (13%).
Consumers realize the potential benefits of food as medicine
It's no surprise food matters when it comes to health and wellness. According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), an unhealthy diet is the leading risk factor for death as it exacerbates some chronic health conditions. Putting food to use in preventing and treating specific health needs creates an opportunity for the fresh food industry to further connect with consumers while improving the top and bottom lines. The industry can also help households that face health equity challenges exacerbated by inflation. Food insecurity itself is strongly correlated with adverse health outcomes.
Key quote
"Despite inflation and rising food costs, consumers are willing to pay for fresh food that will positively impact their health and wellness. Amid increasing competition, fresh food producers and retailers have the opportunity to introduce consumers to healthy choices and use food as medicine. Grocers who can close the information gap between fresh food and its health outcomes can be better positioned to win over consumers — and compete on aspects other than price."
— Daniel Edsall, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Trust in food retailers is key to progress
While consumers want to use food as medicine, 62% cite conflicting information and confusion about the healthfulness of specific foods. Four in 10 consumers do not clearly understand which fresh foods can act like medicine, and a little over half of consumers (52%) say it is essential to get data about food origins, safety, and nutritional properties to use food as medicine confidently. Fortunately, many consumers seem to have a high degree of trust in their favorite food retailers to overcome these barriers.
Key quote
"Using food as medicine is one of the ways consumers can be empowered to take control of their health. However, not every household has equal access to or can afford to pay higher prices for fresh, healthy foods which is a factor that contributes to health inequities and poorer health outcomes. We recognize that grocers and other stakeholders have an important role to play in supporting the health and wellness of their communities by helping to ensure their customers benefit from the connection between healthy foods and good health."
— Jay Bhatt, D.O., MPH, MPA, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and the Deloitte Health Equity Institute
Connect with us on Twitter at @DeloitteCB or on LinkedIn @DannyEdsall.
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Article From & Read More ( Deloitte: Healthy Eating Creates New Opportunities for Growth in Fresh Food - PR Newswire )
The United States has fallen a few places in the latest rankings of a report that measures food security.
The study from Economist Impact put Finland at the top, followed by Ireland, Norway and France. Canada was seventh and the United Kingdom was ninth. The United States dropped to 13th from ninth in the previous edition.
The 11th Global Food Security Index (GFSI) covers food affordability, availability, quality and safety, and sustainability and adaptation across 113 countries. Indicators are used to do this and one change to the latest version is considering relevant food safety legislation.
Based solely on the quality and safety metric, Canada was first and the United States was third. The UK was 29th.
GFSI data for the United States suggests that it needs to improve policy commitments around food security and access by establishing a food security agency and implementing a related strategy.
Pratima Singh, principal of policy and insights at Economist Impact, said issues such as the Ukraine conflict and high food prices, are stressing an already fragile food system.
“The 2022 Global Food Security Index highlights the crucial impact of structural issues and risks to food security such as volatility in agricultural production, trade and supply-chain disruption, scarcity of natural resources, and increasing economic inequality. Building long-term, systemic resilience should be a priority if the larger trend toward greater food insecurity worldwide is to be reversed.”
Climate change impact
The least food-secure countries are conflict zones and face severe climate risks. Syria is at the bottom of the list, followed by Haiti and Yemen. A difference between the top performer and the country at the bottom has continued to widen since 2019.
There are big jumps in scores for pest infestation and disease mitigation policies.
The index, sponsored by Corteva Agriscience, shows governments are not prepared for the increase in extreme weather like this summer’s heatwaves across Europe and North America and flooding in Pakistan. It found water management techniques and existing irrigation systems that can help manage the effects of climate change are lacking.
Increasing food prices, rising global hunger, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine and Russia conflict are also mentioned.
There were falls in nutritional standards, such as national nutrition plans and monitoring. About a third of countries have no national nutrition plan or strategy in 2022, nearly double the number that lacked one in 2019. Also, 25 of 113 countries are not regularly monitoring the nutritional status of their population compared with 15 in 2019. Without such work, policymakers cannot identify nutritional deficiencies and deploy resources where needed.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)
Article From & Read More ( U.S. slips down rankings in food security index - Food Safety News )Global plastic production has increased significantly over the past few decades and, currently, it ranks third in the global municipal solid waste. The packaging wastes from take-out food delivery, such as plastic containers made up of polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), are among the highest contributor to plastic accumulation in the environment. These plastics undergo fragmentation and weathering and are transformed into smaller pieces. Presently, an increase in microplastics (diameter of less than 5 mm) in the environment has raised concerns in the global scientific community and environmentalists.
The ubiquitous presence of microplastics (MPs) in the ocean, soil, glaciers, deserts, and most importantly, in foods and drinking water has raised concern. MPs have also been detected in human cancerous lungs, blood, feces as well as the placenta. These findings suggest that when an individual is exposed to MPs through diet or inhalation, they are subjected to endangered health.
Several studies have indicated the presence of MPs in seafood, especially in bivalves. There is a scarcity of data regarding its presence in everyday food, such as rice and meat. Fast-paced lifestyles and rapid economic development have popularized take-out food substantially.
The rapid increase in online take-out business has been a convenience for people, particularly during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, to order a variety of food at a low cost. Nevertheless, due to the lack of proper supervision, freshness of ingredients, the safety and quality of take-out food containers, and proper cooking and cleaning approach suffers. Although MPs have been detected in take-out food containers, data on their presence in food is unavailable. It is imperative to determine the level of MP exposure in humans through take-out food.
In a recent Environmental Research study, scientists detected and measured MPs directly from take-out food, i.e., solid foods and beverages, obtained from South China. They further determined its abundance and characteristics in different take-out food. The factors associated with MP abundance were determined along with the number of MPs ingested through take-out foods, by consumers.
Take-out food samples were collected from Tianhe and Panyu districts of Guangzhou, a hub of colleges and universities. Many students order take-out food from nearby food stores, using online apps (Meituan and Eleme). Some of the common types of food ordered through the app were solid food that included rice, noodles, beans, meat and vegetables, and beverages, such as bubble tea and coffee.
The take-out food samples were subjected to the digestion process in a water bath and were filtered. This filtrate was allowed to dry at room temperature and was used for various analyses. Similarly, beverage samples were treated using standard protocol for further analysis. These dried samples were initially studied in microscopes to detect and characterize MPs.
More than one hundred take-out food samples were collected and analyzed in this study. MP abundance was found to vary in tested food samples following its storage conditions before cooking, food types, and cooking methods. However, no difference in MP concentration was found based on food packaging materials.
Before cooking, rice is commonly packed in polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and paper bags. The MPs on the surface of the plastic packaging could have peeled off, which were detected in uncooked rice. Other foods, such as noodles, meat, vegetables, bean sprouts, and bubble tea that cannot be stored for a longer period, are often wrapped in plastic packages and stored in a refrigerator for short periods.
A relatively high level of MP was found in food stored at room temperature for a prolonged period compared to those kept frozen or refrigerated for short periods. These findings are consistent with previous studies that indicated fewer microplastics were released into the food stored in plastic containers at low temperatures. MPs in beverages might be introduced from the water source.
Among the containers used to store rice, relatively more MP abundance was detected in rice stored in PS containers. Additionally, differential physical characteristics of MPs, such as shape, size, and color, were found to be based on the type of take-out food. Raman spectroscopic study showed that PE/PP, PE, PET, PP, and polystyrene (PS) were the common types of MPs. Consumers of take-out food abundantly ingested MPs. For instance, an adult who ordered take-out food 1-2 times each week, typically consumed 170‒638 MPs.
This study revealed that MPs ingested by humans from drinking water and seafood are comparable to MP consumption after a week of consuming one take-out food by an adult. MPs that are present in take-out foods not only come from the food container but also from cooking methods and food types. The authors recommended that the take-out food must be stored in glass containers and that people must avoid fried or roasted take-out food.
Earlier that morning, it poured in Hana. Now, with the sun creeping out from behind the clouds, the air is thick with humidity as Hauʻoli Kahaleuahi strolls through the heart of Hana School to the mala — or garden bed — dug into a stretch of grass between two rows of classrooms.
“Uala, radish, basil,” Kahaleuahi says, listing off each vegetable growing there.
“Daikon,” she continues, walking alongside the line of soil. “Lettuce, green onions.”
Today, the garden area is quiet. The children are inside the classrooms; they will come to work in the soil later. The row that Kahaleuahi walks near, which stretches the length of at least a couple classrooms, is one of five in this single small grassy section of campus. There are others scattered across the schoolyard that are tended by different grade levels, plus a number of hydroponic systems where students plan to grow lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes later this year.
It’s not uncommon for schools to have gardens, but what’s taking place at Hana School is of an entirely different scale. Students recently grew 200 pounds of uala, or sweet potatoes. There’s also an orchard of more than 90 fruit trees, made up of papaya, avocado, banana, mango, soursop and ulu.
The school is also in the process of constructing a greenhouse, in large part because of the organization where Kahaleuahi serves as the community outreach coordinator: Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke, which means “in working, one learns.” The nonprofit started two decades ago with a mission to teach children the construction trade at Hana School, where students eventually built 13 of the campus’ buildings, including the principal’s office and preschool.
Since then, Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke’s footprint has kept expanding, with an added focus on supporting local farmers and guiding students to be the next generation of land stewards. Its staff recently released a report — three years in the making — that examined ways to improve East Maui’s food security and boost access to healthy, locally grown foods for families. It’s an enormously complicated problem, but the organization is moving ahead with a number of solutions.
One of the simple ones: Start in the school to cultivate food on campus and teach students how to grow, harvest and prepare it.
“It started with one person’s passion to service kids, and it has evolved into this school within a school,” said Chris Sanita, principal of Hana School.
Hana School serves almost 400 children, from preschool to 12th grade, along with young adults who’ve recently graduated and work on campus through the nonprofit’s apprenticeship programs. Over the years, Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke has grown into the public school’s nonprofit partner, working to fill the gaps and overcome bureaucratic hurdles that often arise when dealing with state and federal education departments.
In partnership with the school, Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke’s goal is to equip the future community leaders of East Maui with the work experience and skills they need to be self-sufficient, while in the process empowering them with the knowledge to care for their neighbors and land around them.
It’s a way for the nonprofit to tackle Maui’s broader social and economic issues — like its fragile economy and food system that relies on imports — one child at a time. Even before the pandemic struck, sending Maui into an existential economic crisis, Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke secured a grant from the federal government to study East Maui’s food system and ways to reduce the region’s reliance on outside imports, in a place where the nearest business hub is a two-hour drive away.
Released this summer, the study found that compared to the rest of Hawaii, where up to 90% of food is imported, fresh, local foods make up almost one-fourth of Hana families’ grocery spending. Through dozens of surveys of families and schoolchildren, researchers confirmed that Hana residents want to eat more Hawaiian cultural crops — what they call “aina-based foods,” like kalo, uala, ulu and banana. Dishes like ulu lasagna, poi, laulau and kalua pig were some of the favorite lunch options picked by Hana keiki.
That shouldn’t be surprising, the study said, because more than 70% of residents are of Native Hawaiian descent. The problem, however, is all of the barriers to getting foods grown by East Maui farmers onto families’ dinner plates and into school cafeterias. The challenges range from the cost to lack of availability, which are tied to low pay for farming work, a shortage of start-up funding to invest in the region’s farmers and a lack of land to grow crops and machinery to farm them, the study found.
“We just needed to back up all of these observations that everybody was making,” said Lipoa Kahaleuahi, the organization’s executive director, who’s a graduate of Hana School. Before assuming that role in 2019, Lipoa served as the organization’s community outreach coordinator, which is now held by her younger sister, Hauʻoli.
Now armed with the data, she said Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke is putting more focus on improving one piece of East Maui’s food system: providing children with locally grown food at school. Before the pandemic, the school was serving about 450 meals between breakfast and lunch each day, she said.
But it isn’t so easy for the cafeteria to suddenly shift to buying produce from Hana farmers. Even though the state has set a goal to buy more local food, budget and staffing challenges have meant that much of the food provided by DOE contractors still comes from the mainland U.S. So instead of “farm-to-school,” Hana School is trying “garden-to-cafeteria.”
“It seems like the perfect spot to potentially make the most difference,” said Kahaleuahi, since the cafeteria serves hundreds of meals to children coming from Keʻanae to Kaupo each day.
This year, Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke staffed a garden coordinator, who helps design curriculums and guides the children in growing the fruits and vegetables to supply Hana School’s culinary classes, on top of the donations the class gets from the food bank. On a sunny morning last week, the scent of cinnamon and warm apples drifted through the school’s commercial kitchen, where a middle school class cooked up homemade applesauce.
Babette Lopez, who oversees the culinary program, was getting ready to set up tables outside the classroom later in the afternoon. If her classes cook dishes in a large enough volume, they become after-school snacks for the entire student body. On the menu that day: applesauce, steamed sweet potatoes, dehydrated bananas and banana peanut butter toast with chia seeds and a honey drizzle — all made by students.
The children also helped Lopez prepare several gallons of kimchi. They won’t eat it though; instead, it will be boxed up into containers to go into produce boxes that Ma Ka Hana Ka ‘Ike gives out to a couple dozen kupuna each week.
“It’s good for the kids,” Lopez said.
Even in Ma Ka Hana Ka ‘Ike’s building program, students are sometimes tasked with repairing kupuna’s homes out in the community. It’s a way to foster the next generation of community caretakers, Hauʻoli Kahaleuahi said, while also creating a pathway for kupuna to pass their knowledge down to Hana’s youth.
“We can make the greatest change here in our community,” Kahaleuahi said. “Our community is a very special place, where cultural knowledge, aina-based knowledge and hands-on knowledge exists and thrives.”
Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation and the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation.
“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.
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