A critical examination of community-based responses to household food insecurity in Canada

Charitable Food Programs In Victoria, BC

Purpose: Few authors have investigated the institutional character of charitable food programs and their capacity to address food security in Canada.

Methods:We surveyed food programmanagers at charitable agencies in Greater Victoria, British Columbia.We discuss the structure of the “system” of charitable food provision, the value of sourced food, types of services provided, clients’ demographic profile, and the estimated healthfulness ofmeals served.We also describe the proportion ofmajor food types purchased and donated to agencies.

Results: Thirty-six agencies served approximately 20,000meals a week to about 17,000 people. Food valued at $3.2million was purchased or donated; approximately 50%was donated,mainly by corporations. The largest value of food purchased and donated was frommeat and alternatives (40.9%) and nonperishable food items (16%). Dairy productsmade up the smallest share of donated foods.

Conclusions: Charitable food programs in Victoria depend on food donations. The proportion of dairy products and produce is low, which raises questions about the healthfulness of foods currently fed to homeless and poor people in the city.

Perception of needs and responses in food security: divergence between households and stakeholders

Objectives

The aim of the study was (i) to describe the needs of food-insecure households and their assessment of community programmes, as expressed by households and perceived by stakeholders; and (ii) to examine the similarities and differences between households’ and stakeholders’ perceptions in Quebec City area.

Design/setting/subjects

A semi-structured interview and sociodemographic questionnaire with fifty-five households and fifty-nine stakeholders (community workers, managers, donor agencies). The transcriptions were subjected to content analysis and inter-coder reliability measurement.

Results

The respondents’ perceptions converge towards three main categories of needs: needs specific to food security, conditions necessary for achieving food security and related needs. There was agreement on the necessity of better financial resources, although the impact of financial resources alone may be uncertain in the opinion of some stakeholders. Different perceptions of needs and of their fulfilment by community programmes emerge between both groups. Despite households found positive aspects, they complained that quality of food and access were major needs neglected. Their account suggests overall a partial fit between the programmes and food security needs; even a combination of programmes (e.g. collective kitchens, purchasing groups, community gardens) was insufficient to adequately meet these needs. In contrast, most stakeholders perceived that the household’s primary need was a basic amount of food and that the households were satisfied with programmes.

Conclusions

It is urgent to evaluate the overall effect of community programmes on specific aspects of household food insecurity. The results emphasise that community programmes alone cannot bring about social change needed to prevent food insecurity.

Improving the nutritional status of food-insecure women: first, let them eat what they like

OBJECTIVE

To determine the extent to which identified nutrient inadequacies in the dietary intakes of a sample of food-insecure women could be ameliorated by increasing their access to the 'healthy' foods they typically eat.

DESIGN

Merged datasets of 226 food-insecure women who provided at least three 24-hour dietary intake recalls over the course of a month. Dietary modelling, with energy adjustment for severe food insecurity, explored the effect of adding a serving of the woman's own, and the group's typically chosen, nutrient-rich foods on the estimated prevalence of nutrient inadequacy.

SETTING AND SUBJECTS

One study included participants residing in 22 diverse community clusters from the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, and the second study included food bank attendees in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Of the 226 participants, 78% lived alone with their children.

RESULTS

While nutritional vulnerability remained after modelling, adding a single serving of either typically chosen 'healthy' foods from women's own diets or healthy food choices normative to the population reduced the prevalence of inadequacy by at least half for most nutrients. Correction for energy deficits resulting from severe food insecurity contributed a mean additional 20% improvement in nutrient intakes.

CONCLUSIONS

Food-insecure women would sustain substantive nutritional gains if they had greater access to their personal healthy food preferences and if the dietary compromises associated with severe food insecurity were abated. Increased resources to access such choices should be a priority.

Can food banks sustain nutrient requirements? A case study in Southwestern Ontario

BACKGROUND

Concerns about adequate food supply is a mounting problem in Canada, making food bank visits a necessity for over 820,000 Canadians. Given this reliance, the purpose of this study was to compare contents of food hampers with Canadian guidelines, at a large urban food bank in Southwestern Ontario that intends to provide 3 days worth of food per person.

METHOD

Thirty hampers of each available size (for 1-6 people) were sampled (N = 180). Food items were recorded and analyzed for caloric value, food group, and macro- and micro-nutrient values. Results were compared to Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) and Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating.

RESULTS

99% of hampers did not provide 3 days worth of nutrients. Grains and cereals met the lower range of Canada's Food Guide recommendations, and fruits and vegetables, meats and alternatives, and dairy products were below recommended levels, as were numerous vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, D, B12, C, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, magnesium and zinc. Carbohydrates were slightly above recommended DRI, and energy from fat and protein scarcely met the minimums recommended. Hampers contained 1.6 days worth of energy per person.

DISCUSSION

The energy available per person was below recommendations for most Canadians. Nutrients missing from the hampers can come from fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meats and alternatives. However, many low-income families have limited finances to purchase these foods which are relatively more expensive than processed foods. Encouraging more perishable food donations and storage facilities to maximize the nutritional intake for clients is imperative.

Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among low-income households in Los Angeles County

Objectives:

To assess the prevalence and identify the predictors of food insecurity among households in Los Angeles County with incomes below 300% of the federal poverty level.

Methods:

The Six-Item Short Form of the US Department of Agriculture's Household Food Security Scale was used as part of a 1999 county-wide, population-based, telephone survey.

Results:

The prevalence of food insecurity was 24.4% and was inversely associated with household income. Other independent predictors of food insecurity included the presence of children in the household (odds ratio (OR) 1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2–2.3) and a history of homelessness in the past five years (OR 5.6, 95% CI 3.4–9.4).

Conclusion:

Food insecurity is a significant public health problem among low–income households in Los Angeles County. Food assistance programmes should focus efforts on households living in and near poverty, those with children, and those with a history of homelessness.

Exploring food security with collective kitchens participants in three Canadian cities

Collective kitchens are small groups of people who pool their resources to cook large quantities of food. With the help of semi-participant observation and in-depth individual interviews, this study is an exploration of participants' perceptions of changes in food security since becoming involved in a collective kitchen. Several important themes emerged, including Increased Variety, Making Ends Meet, and Comparisons to Food Banks. Participants in groups that cooked large quantities of food (upwards of five meals monthly) reported some increases in their food resources. Participants also reported increased dignity associated with not having to access charitable resources to feed their families. Some participants reported decreased psychological distress associated with food insecurity. Overall, participants reported increases in food security; however, collective kitchens are not a long-term solution to the income-related food insecurity experienced by many Canadian families.

Collective Kitchens in Canada: A Review of the Literature

Purpose: Collective kitchens are community-based cooking programs in which small groups of people cook large quantities of food. They have developed over the past 20 years, and hundreds of groups have been formed across the country. However, collective kitchens described in the literature vary considerably in structure, purpose, and format. The purpose of this review is to synthesize research on this topic.

Methods: Articles and theses were collected through searches of major databases, and synthesized to improve understanding of current information, and of continuing gaps in the knowledge of collective kitchens in Canada.

Results: The limited published research on collective kitchens suggests that social and learning benefits are associated with participation. Some indication exists that participants also find the food cooked to be high quality, culturally acceptable, and acquired in a manner that maintains personal dignity. Whether collective kitchens have an impact on food resources as a whole is unclear, as research has been limited in scale.

Conclusions: The role of collective kitchens in community building and empowering participants often is noted, and bears further investigation. Dietitians and nutritionists have a unique opportunity to facilitate the health promotion and food security benefits of collective kitchens.

An examination of at-home food preparation activity among low-income, food-insecure women

A secondary analysis of data from a study of nutritional vulnerability among 153 women in families seeking charitable food assistance was undertaken to estimate the extent and nutritional significance of at-home food preparation activity for these women. At-home food preparation was estimated from women's reported food intakes from three 24-hour recalls. The relationships between food preparation and energy and nutrient intake, food intake, and 30-day household food security status were characterized. Almost all participants (97%) consumed foods prepared from scratch at least once during the three days of observation; 57% did so each day. Both the frequency and complexity of at-home food preparation were positively related to women's energy and nutrient intakes and their consumption of fruits and vegetables, grain products, and meat and alternates. The intakes by women in households with food insecurity with hunger reflected less complex food preparation but no less preparation from scratch than women in households where hunger was not evident, raising questions about the extent to which food skills can protect very poor families from food insecurity and hunger. Our findings indicate the need for nutrition professionals to become effective advocates for policy reforms to lessen economic constraints on poor households.

Agenda setting within a community-based food security planning process: the influence of power

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effectiveness of using citizen politics as a framework for empowering citizens to build a community food security agenda.

DESIGN

A critical perspective, case study design, and multiple qualitative methods were used.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

Forty-four participants were purposefully recruited to participate in a community-based planning process called a search conference (SC). Seven additional disenfranchised stakeholders who did not attend the SC were also recruited to participate.

PHENOMENON OF INTEREST

To assess how power influenced agenda setting and to determine the extent to which disenfranchised stakeholders' most salient interests were incorporated into the final SC action agendas.

ANALYSIS

The constant comparison method, content analysis, and consensus were used to produce the final analysis.

RESULTS

Power influenced agenda setting by managing knowledge, problem framing, trust, and consent. Two of seven of disenfranchised stakeholders' most salient interests, including need for adequate food preparation skills and increased availability of locally produced foods, were incorporated into the final SC action agendas.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Citizen politics can be used to build a community food security agenda on issues that are not at odds with stakeholders in positions of power. To bring about change on issues in which power differences between groups are substantial, additional theoretical frameworks and public policy-making models are needed.

Household food insufficiency is associated with poorer health

The purposes of this study were to estimate the prevalence of household food insufficiency in Canada, to identify sociodemographic characteristics of households most likely to report food insufficiency and to examine the relationship between food insufficiency and physical, mental and social health. These objectives were achieved through an analysis of data from the 1996/1997 National Population Health Survey. An estimated 4% of Canadians, 1.1 million people, were found to be living in food-insufficient households. Single-parent families, households reporting their major source of income as welfare, unemployment insurance or workers' compensation, those who did not own their own homes and households in Western Canada were more likely to report food insufficiency. The likelihood of reporting food insufficiency increased dramatically as income adequacy deteriorated. Individuals from food-insufficient households had significantly higher odds of reporting poor/fair health, of having poor functional health, restricted activity and multiple chronic conditions, of suffering from major depression and distress, and of having poor social support. Individuals in food-insufficient households were also more likely to report heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and food allergies. Men in food-insufficient households were less likely to be overweight; after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, no other associations were found between food insufficiency and body mass index. These findings suggest that food insufficiency is one dimension of a more pervasive vulnerability to a range of physical, mental and social health problems among households struggling with economic constraints.

Household food insecurity with hunger is associated with women's food intakes, health and household circumstances

This study investigated food intake patterns and contextual factors related to household food insecurity with hunger among a sample of 153 women in families seeking charitable food assistance in Toronto. Women in households characterized by food insecurity with severe or moderate hunger over the past 30 d (as assessed by the Food Security Module) reported lower intakes of vegetables and fruit, and meat and alternatives than those in households with no hunger evident. Women were more likely to report household food insecurity with hunger over the past 12 mo and 30 d if they also reported longstanding health problems or activity limitations, or if they were socially isolated. The circumstances that women identified as precipitating acute food shortages in their households included chronically inadequate incomes; the need to meet additional, unusual expenditures; and the need to pay for other services or accumulated debts. Women who reported delaying payments of bills, giving up services, selling or pawning possessions, or sending children elsewhere for a meal when threatened with acute food shortages were more likely to report household food insecurity with hunger. These findings suggest that expenditures on other goods and services were sometimes foregone to free up money for food, but the reverse was also true. Household food insecurity appears inextricably linked to financial insecurity.