Unraveling the physicochemical attributes of three cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus)-enriched biscuit products and implications on consumers' preference and willingness to pay

Disgust and neophobia elicited by whole insect products, has necessitated the need to mask insect-based food products. The physico-chemical parameters, sensory acceptance, and willingness to pay (WTP) for wheat biscuits supplemented with cricket powder was evaluated. The biscuits' color intensity correlated with the cricket inclusion levels. Spread ration of cricket-enriched-biscuits increased (1.0-1.2-folds), while the hardness and fracturability decreased (1.0-1.3-folds and 1.0-1.2 folds, respectively) compared to the control biscuit. Cricket-biscuits exhibited 1.2-1.7, 1.1-3.7, 1.2-3.0 and 1.1-1.2-folds higher (p < 0.05) protein, ash, fiber, and fat, respectively. Ca, Fe, and Zn were 1.1-3.7, 1.1-1.2 and 1.4-4.0-folds higher, respectively, for cricket-based biscuits. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids proportionally increased with increasing cricket flour. On a likert scale, 71.4%, 71.9%, 38.4% and 57.5% of the caregivers and 38.6%, 58.3%, 40.0% and 34.0% for children (3-5 years) strongly preferred the color, texture, taste and aroma, respectively, of the cricket-based biscuits. Forty-seven (47%) of the caretakers were WTP a premium of 37 Kenyan shillings (0.34 USD) for cricket-based biscuits. Our findings demonstrated that integration of cricket flour into existing market-driven consumer familiar food products significantly increased acceptability and WTP, thus promising potential to contribute to improved food and nutritional security.

Exploring the associations between neighbourhood food environment, household food insecurity and child weight-related outcomes in socio-economically and racially/ethnically diverse families

OBJECTIVE

To examine associations among neighbourhood food environments (NFE), household food insecurity (HFI) and child's weight-related outcomes in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of US-born and immigrant/refugee families.

DESIGN

This cross-sectional, observational study involving individual and geographic-level data used multilevel models to estimate associations between neighbourhood food environment and child outcomes. Interactions between HFI and NFE were employed to determine whether HFI moderated the association between NFE and child outcomes and whether the associations differed for US-born v. immigrant/refugee groups.

SETTING

The sample resided in 367 census tracts in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metropolitan area, and the data were collected in 2016-2019.

PARTICIPANTS

The sample was from the Family Matters study of families (n 1296) with children from six racial/ethnic and immigrant/refugee groups (African American, Latino, Hmong, Native American, Somali/Ethiopian and White).

RESULTS

Living in a neighbourhood with low perceived access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables was found to be associated with lower food security (P < 0·01), poorer child diet quality (P < 0·01) and reduced availability of a variety of fruits (P < 0·01), vegetables (P < 0·05) and whole grains in the home (P < 0·01). Moreover, residing in a food desert was found to be associated with a higher child BMI percentile if the child's household was food insecure (P < 0·05). No differences in associations were found for immigrant/refugee groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Poor NFE were associated with worse weight-related outcomes for children; the association with weight was more pronounced among children with HFI. Interventions aiming to improve child weight-related outcomes should consider both NFE and HFI.

Survey data on land tenure and food security among farming households in northern Nigeria

This dataset presents data collected from the households’ survey in Northern Nigeria to examine land tenure and property rights among smallholder rice farmers and the influence it has on household food security. Data collection was by personal interviews of adult members of the farmers’ households, focusing on the households’ socio-economics, United States Department of Agriculture’- 18 Household Food Security questions for households with children, land titling status and land tenure type on farmland cultivated during the 2016/17 farming season. The data were collected from 475 rice farmers selected by multistage sampling across 84 rice-growing communities, seven States and the three geopolitical zones in northern Nigeria. Household food security was assessed within the framework of the United States Department of Agriculture’ HFS Survey Module. Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPRs) assessment was in terms of the type (source) and registration of titles to farmlands. The hypothesis that guided the cross-sectional survey conducted to generate these data is that insecure land tenure and property rights are important drivers of food insecurity.

Marginal Food Security Predicts Earlier Age at Menarche Among Girls From the 2009-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

STUDY OBJECTIVE

This study analyzed the relationship between household food security and variation in age at menarche, as well as the connections between food insecurity, nutritional status, and allostatic load, among girls aged 12-15 years from the 2009-2014 United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

METHODS

Data analysis included mean comparisons of age at menarche among household food security groups (high, marginal, low, and very low) as well as categorical variables known to associate with age at menarche (ethnicity, poverty status, body mass index [BMI], allostatic load, and milk consumption). χ² Analyses were used to test the associations between household food security and additional categorical variables. Univariate and multivariate regression models were used to test the relationship between variation in age at menarche and household food security, ethnicity, BMI, and allostatic load categories while controlling for age.

RESULTS

Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Mexican American girls had earlier mean ages at menarche, higher mean BMIs, and disproportionately experienced household food insecurity when compared to non-Hispanic White-identifying girls. In the univariate analyses, marginal household food security, Hispanic/Mexican American and Black ethnicities, overweight and obese BMI categories, and marginal-high allostatic load were each associated with lower age at menarche compared to reference categories. These associations were maintained in the multivariate analysis, although only Hispanic/Mexican American ethnicity predicted earlier menarche when compared to that of non-Hispanic White girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Marginal household food security, particularly for girls who identified as non-White, predicted earlier age at menarche independent of nutritional status and allostatic load. At the same time, having more energetic resources (ie, higher BMI) also significantly predicted earlier menarche.

A latent growth curve modelling approach to seasonal and spatial dynamics of food security heterogeneities in rural Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya

The increasing complexity of food insecurity, malnutrition, and chronic poverty faced by Sub-Saharan Africa warrants urgent categorisation and tracking of household food security along both temporal and spatial dimensions. This will help to effectively target, monitor and evaluate population-level programs and specific interventions aimed at addressing food insecurity. Traditional longitudinal analysis does not address the dynamics of inter- and intrahousehold heterogeneities within the seasonal and spatial context of household-level food security. This study is the first to overcome such limitations by adopting a multi-group piecewise latent growth curve model in the analysis of the food security situation in a statistically representative sample of 601 households involved in subsistence and cut-flower commercial agriculture, around Lake Naivasha. We considered food security as a latent concept, which manifests as food security outcomes in our primary longitudinal dataset from March 2018 to January 2019. Our analysis highlights the temporal and spatial dynamics of food security and advances new evidence on inter- and intrahousehold heterogeneities in food security across different seasons for the subsistence and commercial farming clusters. These heterogeneities were demonstrated primarily during the hunger season from March to June, and persisted in both the clusters and across months, albeit with different intensities. Moreover, our results indicate the importance of commercial agriculture in achieving food security in the hunger season. Our study suggests the need of a multidisciplinary approach to food security and the introduction of well-coordinated interventions for the development of subsistence and commercial agriculture considering the seasonal and cluster-level specificities.

Traditional foodstuffs and household food security in a time of crisis

Traditional foodstuffs play an important role in household food security. No research has, however, attempted to examine traditional foodstuffs in light of disasters and crises. Such research can provide a useful outlook on how traditional foodstuffs can aid households in a situation of disrupted food supply. This outlook becomes relevant in view of future disastrous events that can undermine household food security, especially in poor disadvantaged communities. This study examined the role of traditional foodstuffs during a major crisis. The study adopted an ethnographic perspective and the method of semi-structured household interviews to explore how traditional foodstuffs were used by communities in the city of Mosul, Iraq, under the ISIS administration and during the liberation war (2016-2017). The study showcased the critical role of traditional foodstuffs in survival of local households. It highlighted the importance of cross-generational knowledge of traditional foodstuffs in community preparedness for disasters and crises. The study proposed to integrate traditional foodstuffs into governmental strategies on household food security in Iraq, and beyond. It suggested including traditional foodstuffs in the humanitarian food supply chains in the regions prone to disasters and crises. Future research should examine the prerequisites for such inclusion, especially from the viewpoint of societal and political acceptance of traditional foodstuffs and methods of their production.

Determinants of household food security and dietary diversity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to determine the associated factors of household food security (HFS) and household dietary diversity (HDD) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.

DESIGN

Both online survey and face-to-face interviews were employed in this cross-sectional study. The Household Food Security Scale and Household Dietary Diversity Score were used to access HFS and HDD, respectively. The HDD scores were derived from a 24-h recall of food intake from 12 groups.

SETTING

Bangladesh.

PARTICIPANTS

A total sample of 1876 households were recruited.

RESULTS

The overall mean scores of HFS and HDD were 31·86 (sd 2·52) and 6·22 (sd 5·49), respectively. Being a rural resident, having no formal education, occupation of household head other than government job and low monthly income were potential determinants of lower HFS and HDD. Approximately 45 % and 61 % of Bangladeshi households did not get the same quantity and same type of food, respectively, as they got before the pandemic. Over 10 % of respondents reported that they lost their job or had to close their businesses, and income reduction was reported by over 70 % of household income earners during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn was negatively associated with HFS and HDD.

CONCLUSION

Household socio-economic variables and COVID-19 effects on occupation and income are potential predictors of lower HFS and HDD scores. HFS and HDD deserve more attention during this pandemic particularly with reference to low-earning households and the households whose earning persons' occupation has been negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Land tenure and property rights, and household food security among rice farmers in Northern Nigeria

There are growing campaigns to promote land titling to secure Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPRs) in African agriculture. Theoretically, deed registration should reduce land disputes, facilitate land use as collateral for loans, and stimulate investment in land improvement for increased productivity, income and food security. Empirical evidence in these regards, however, remains anecdotal, and sometimes conflicting. This paper reports a study that examined LTPRs' among smallholder rice farmers in Northern Nigeria and the influence on household food security (HFS). It used cross-section data obtained from 549 rice farmers, selected by multistage sampling across 84 rice-growing communities, seven (7) States and the three (3) geopolitical zones in northern Nigeria. Data collection was by personal interviews of adult members of the farmers' households, focusing on the households' socio-economics, livelihoods, and LTPRs on farmland cultivated during the 2016/17 farming season. HFS was assessed within the framework of the United States Department of Agriculture’ HFS Survey Module. LTPRs assessment was in terms of the type (source) and registration of titles to farmlands. HFS modelling was within the framework of Poisson, Instrumental Variable Poisson (IVP) and Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression methods, with endogeneity concerns and choice of specification addressed within Hausman specification tests. The results show that land titling is not endogenous in the estimated models; and that HFS is significantly (p < 0.01) enhanced with an increase in shares of freehold and leasehold in the households’ farmlands, as against reliance on communal holdings. Holding de jure secure title to farmlands, however, had no significant influence on HFS. The evidence supports the need to develop land markets to enhance the ease of land transfer, as part of measures to enhance HFS in northern Nigeria.

A structured expert judgement elicitation approach: how can it inform sound intervention decision-making to support household food security?

OBJECTIVE

To examine structured expert judgement (SEJ) elicitation as a method to provide robust, defensible data for three determinants of household food security (food cost, household disposable income and physical access) for quantifying a proof-of-concept integrating decision support system for food security.

DESIGN

SEJ elicitation is a validated method for obtaining unavailable data, but its use in household food security in high-income countries is novel. Investigate Discuss Estimate Aggregate (IDEA) elicitation protocol was implemented, including quantitative and qualitative elements. Using specific questions related to three determinants, food security experts were encouraged to Investigate - estimate individual first-round responses to these questions, Discuss - with each other evidence on the reasoning and logic of their estimates, Estimate - second-round responses, following which these judgements were combined using mathematical Aggregation.

SETTING

Victoria, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

Five experts with a range of expertise in the area of household food insecurity participated in the SEJ elicitation process.

RESULTS

The experts' ability to provide reliable estimates was tested and informed the aggregation of the collection of individual estimates into a single quantity of interest for use in decision support. The results of the quantitative elicitation show the impact of combinations of varying household income, food cost and physical access on household food security status and severity and is supported by the experts reasoning during elicitation.

CONCLUSION

This research provides insight to the application of SEJ where elicited data can inform and support intervention decision-making specific to household food security, especially where evidence is absent or of poor quality.

Conceptualising COVID-19's impacts on household food security

COVID-19 undermines food security both directly, by disrupting food systems, and indirectly, through the impacts of lockdowns on household incomes and physical access to food. COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic could undermine food production, processing and marketing, but the most concerning impacts are on the demand-side – economic and physical access to food. This paper identifies three complementary frameworks that can contribute to understanding these effects, which are expected to persist into the post-pandemic phase, after lockdowns are lifted. FAO’s ‘four pillars’– availability, access, stability and utilisation – and the ‘food systems’ approach both provide holistic frameworks for analysing food security. Sen’s ‘entitlement’ approach is useful for disaggregating demand-side effects on household production-, labour-, trade- and transfer-based entitlements to food. Drawing on the strengths of each of these frameworks can enhance the understanding of the pandemic’s impacts on food security, while also pinpointing areas for governments and other actors to intervene in the food system, to protect the food security of households left vulnerable by COVID-19 and public responses.

Dietary diversity among school age children in Merawi town, Amhara region, Ethiopia, 2018: a community based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Malnutrition with its constituents of protein energy malnutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies continues to be a major health burden in low and middle-income countries. To end all forms of malnutrition, we need to address poverty, which is associated with the insecure supply of food and diversified nutrition. The objective of this study was to determine the level of dietary diversity and household food security among urban school-age children in Merawi town, Ethiopia.

METHODS

A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Merawi town among 422 households having school age children from April 1 to June 15, 2018. The association between dietary diversity and determinants was assessed using binary logistic regression analysis. Socio-demographic, maternal and child related variables; food security and diversity determinants were studied.

RESULTS

The overall level of good dietary diversity was 91.7%, i.e.; 8.3% had a low, 59.1% had a good, 32.6% had better dietary diversity, respectively. Most households (95.2%) were secured with food access. The factors associated with good dietary diversity were the age of the child [AOR = 0.31 (0.14, 0.70)], and access to information [AOR = 3.18 (1.07,9.47)].

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of good dietary diversity was relatively high. Among different socio-cultural and economic factors studied, age of the child and access to information were the factors associated with dietary diversity. Increasing maternal and child awareness towards good dietary diversity practices through the mass media (radio and Television) and working with mothers with early school-age children to improve dietary diversity are recommended.

Effects of multiannual, seasonal unconditional cash transfers on food security and dietary diversity in rural Burkina Faso: the Moderate Acute Malnutrition Out (MAM'Out) cluster-randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the impact of multiannual, seasonal unconditional cash transfers (UCT) provided within the Moderate Acute Malnutrition Out (MAM'Out) research project on households' food security and children's and caregivers' dietary diversity.

DESIGN

A two-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial with sixteen villages in the intervention group and sixteen others in the control group. A monthly allowance of 10 000 XOF was transferred to caregivers of eligible children via a personal mobile phone account from July to November 2013 and 2014.

SETTING

Tapoa province in the eastern region of Burkina Faso.

PARTICIPANTS

Data on household food access (monthly adequate household food provisioning (MAHFP); household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS)) and maternal and child dietary diversity were analysed for 1143 households, 1219 caregivers of reproductive age (15-49 years) and 1247 under-5 children from both intervention and control groups.

RESULTS

The mean women dietary diversity score in intervention caregivers and the mean dietary diversity score (DDS) in intervention children with inadequate minimum DDS at baseline were respectively 7 % (95 % CI 2, 11 %; P = 0·002) and 17 % (95 % CI 11, 23 %; P <0·001) higher compared with the control group. However, no difference was found in the intervention effect on household food security measured with HFIAS (relative risk = 1·03; 95 % CI 0·92, 1·15; P = 0·565) and MAHFP (relative risk = 0·98; 95 % CI 0·96, 1·01; P = 0·426).

CONCLUSIONS

Multiannual, seasonalUCT increased dietary diversity in children and their caregivers. They can be recommended in actions aiming to improve maternal and child diet diversity.

Interventions to address household food insecurity in high-income countries

Household food insecurity is a serious public health concern in high-income countries. Canada and the USA regularly monitor household food insecurity, while in other countries, such as the UK, it has been the rapid rise of food bank usage that has drawn increased attention to this longstanding, but largely overlooked, problem. This review evaluates evidence on interventions intended to reduce household food insecurity in high-income countries. Research on social protection interventions suggests both cash transfers and food subsidies (e.g. the US Supplement Nutrition and Assistance Programme) reduce household food insecurity. In contrast, research on community-level interventions, such as food banks and other food programmes, suggests limited impacts. Although food banks have become a common intervention for food insecurity in high-income countries, evidence suggests their reliance on donations of volunteer time and food make them inevitably limited in the assistance they are able to provide. The stigma people feel using food banks may also make them untenable. Alternatives to, or enhanced, food banks such as community shops or community kitchens, have become common, but evidence also suggests they may be limited in effectiveness if they do not reach people experiencing food insecurity. This review highlights the difficulty of trying to address household food insecurity with community-based food interventions when solutions likely lie upstream in social protection policies.

Household food insecurity and coping strategies in a poor rural community in Malaysia

This cross-sectional study assessed household food insecurity among low-income rural communities and examined its association with demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as coping strategies to minimize food insecurity. Demographic, socioeconomic, expenditure and coping strategy data were collected from 200 women of poor households in a rural community in Malaysia. Households were categorized as either food secure (n=84) or food insecure (n=116) using the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity instrument. T-test, Chi-square and logistic regression were utilized for comparison of factors between food secure and food insecure households and determination of factors associated with household food insecurity, respectively. More of the food insecure households were living below the poverty line, had a larger household size, more children and school-going children and mothers as housewives. As food insecure households had more school-going children, reducing expenditures on the children's education is an important strategy to reduce household expenditures. Borrowing money to buy foods, receiving foods from family members, relatives and neighbors and reducing the number of meals seemed to cushion the food insecure households from experiencing food insufficiency. Most of the food insecure households adopted the strategy on cooking whatever is available at home for their meals. The logistic regression model indicates that food insecure households were likely to have more children (OR=1.71; p<0.05) and non-working mothers (OR=6.15; p<0.05), did not own any land (OR=3.18; p<0.05) and adopted the strategy of food preparation based on whatever is available at their homes (OR=4.33; p<0.05). However, mothers who reported to borrow money to purchase food (OR=0.84; p<0.05) and households with higher incomes of fathers (OR=0.99; p<0.05) were more likely to be food secure. Understanding the factors that contribute to household food insecurity is imperative so that effective strategies could be developed and implemented.