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The "gift" that never stops giving: the corona also causes global hunger

Prof. Janet Fleetwood, an American public health expert, is concerned about the different ways Corona has created and continues to create food insecurity in the world (and also in Israel) and suggests involving scientists in the decision-making process to address the problem.

Tags

• Corona

• hunger

• diet

Yael Moore, Angle

Friday, October 30, 2020, 12:18 AM

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The corona leads to food insecurity (angle)

October 16th marked International Food Day around the world.

Every year, events are held at this time that promote awareness of global hunger and food insecurity.

This year, it seems, there was no need for a special reminder of the importance of the subject - following the corona crisis, the fear of hunger knocked on the door of many people in the world, even those who thought it would not happen.

In Israel, for example, the crisis has led to an increase of about 145,000 people who have entered a state of food insecurity, according to data from the Leket organization.

According to the American Center for Strategic and International Studies, at the beginning of 2020 there were about 135 million people in the world suffering from severe food insecurity (extreme hunger).

According to the researchers at the center, this alarming number could double by the end of the year to 265 million people, following the corona crisis.

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"The definition of food insecurity under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a lack of regular, physical and economic access to a sufficient amount of healthy and nutritious food for proper growth and development and for an active and healthy life," said Prof. Janet Fleetwood, a researcher in the department. health community at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who participated in the annual conference 48 Science and environment of the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences.

Fleetwood led past the ethics Committee at the hospital of College of Pennsylvania and is today considered the leading researcher in the field of public health, ethics and social justice and their encounter with food security and waste Food: According to her, there are degrees of food insecurity, ranging from "mild food insecurity", where there is uncertainty about the possibility of obtaining food, to "severe food insecurity", where there is no access to food at all for a whole day or more. According to the Food Security Index presented in the 2019 Israel Poverty Report, about 74.8 percent of aid recipients testified that the food they buy was not enough for them, 56 percent of aid recipients ate less than they wanted and about 34 percent reached a state of hunger and did not eat food shortages. .

Today, following the crisis, aid organizations are reporting that the rate of requests for food baskets has risen by hundreds of percent.

Empty refrigerator (Photo: shutterstock)

A vicious circle of poverty and nutrition

Most likely the image that comes to mind when we hear about food insecurity or hunger is of thin children with bloated bellies in developing countries, or of childless seniors with an empty refrigerator, but the real picture is a bit more complex.

In fact, poverty is not the only or the main cause of global food insecurity and the problem is in all countries of the world to one degree or another.

"Of course, poverty and hunger are related to this," says Fleetwood. In food, especially in places of war and violent conflict, or seasonal food shortages associated with the effects of climate change with dramatic fluctuations in rains affecting crop production. Or wasting food. "

According to Fleetwood, the hotspots of global food insecurity are located in countries and regions affected by all of these factors (wars, droughts, floods, and pests).

These places were vulnerable even before the spread of corona disease and now suffer even more due to damage to distribution chains and logistics and due to the devaluation of the currency.

According to her, now even developed countries are feeling vulnerable and an increase in the number of citizens who are concerned about food insecurity.

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Too much food waste

"Following the Corona Crisis, the US Department of Agriculture is assisting in the collection and dissemination of information on the production, supply and demand of agricultural products in the Middle East in order to bring about an accurate assessment of food availability and ensure food security for the region."

Interestingly, while the corona crisis has greatly affected food security across developed countries, it has not affected food output. In Israel, for example, food import channels remain open and, together with local agriculture, the concept of the amount of food required is understood. However, there are two main problems leading to food waste that was intended for consumption: dumping of food intended for use in restaurants and guest houses and traffic restrictions, which led to a shortage of manpower in the agriculture industry.

"In developed countries, the closure of restaurants, hotels and schools has dramatically affected food waste," says Fleetwood. "It was not possible to distribute food for sale to these places because they were closed. And so the food insecurity increased."

For example, in the largest dairy cooperative in the United States, Dairy Farmers of America, it was estimated that following the crisis, dairy farmers dumped about 14 million gallons of milk and about 750,000 eggs daily. "The food waste level of perishable food has risen dramatically with the onset of the crisis," Fleetwood says.

In addition, the labor force in the agriculture industry has been dramatically affected as a result of the traffic restrictions imposed on many countries in the world. The restrictions did not allow the entry of workers, which caused a shortage in the agricultural industry and as a result, tens of millions of kilograms of agricultural produce were not harvested and rotted in the fields of the United States, Europe and also Israel.

The corona crisis is not over yet and its impact on food loss and food security is dramatically noticeable, but according to Fleetwood there are some encouraging signs: “In the US, many children rely on the meals they receive in schools. When they closed, there was an immediate need to change the mechanism for distributing food to children. Instead of throwing it in the trash, it went directly to families in need of help and thus managed to prevent food waste. "In addition, Fleetwood says the importance of aid organizations that distributed food that was otherwise wasted, such as our" Leket Israel "organization or" Feedback "organization in the UK Such organizations can help provide food security and reduce food waste.

At the same time, international organizations such as the United Nations World Food Program, which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to fight hunger and food insecurity around the world, continue to help and support millions. People around the world.

"These solutions should be science-oriented," emphasizes Fleetwood, who took part in the annual conference on science and the environment as a guest of the American Embassy in Jerusalem. "Following the Corona Crisis, the US Department of Agriculture is assisting in the collection and dissemination of information on the production, supply and demand of agricultural products in the Middle East in order to accurately assess the availability of food products and ensure food security for the region," added Christopher Green, Environment, Science, Technology and Health. At the U.S. Embassy. "The embassy works to promote knowledge exchange between the countries as part of exchange programs and to meet American and Israeli experts. In addition, the embassy participates in funding scientific collaborations between Israel and its neighbors on sustainability issues in the Middle East and works to increase regional cooperation.

" "Accurate data will provide the knowledge needed to bring about change, but only a commitment to the principles of social justice will bring us to action."

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