Food Security in Georgia: Specific Challenges

Analysis of Food Safety and Security Challenges in Emerging African Food Producing Areas through a One Health Lens: The Dairy Chains in Mali

This article is dedicated to a comprehensive study of the legal aspects and problems of ensuring food security in the context of the formation of New Uzbekistan. The concept of “food security” was analyzed, and its essence was revealed from the standpoint of international standards and approaches. The study showed that food security has its own characteristics of state and development, which are determined by a system of quantitative and qualitative indicators reflecting the level of satisfaction of the population’s needs for safe and affordable food products. It has been established that ensuring food security in New Uzbekistan is one of the key tasks of the state, is considered a priority of national policy, and falls within the sphere of national interests. The article emphasizes that food security is one of the contemporary global problems, and the level of its achievement directly depends not only on the ecological state of a particular region but also on the state’s ongoing environmental, agrarian, and social policies. It is noted that the adoption by the state of necessary measures aimed at ensuring the population’s self-sufficiency in food products is an important direction. The effectiveness of existing legislative norms and practical measures being implemented to strengthen food security was analyzed. Statistical and analytical data presented by international organizations were reviewed, based on which the achievements of New Uzbekistan in the field of food security were identified. As a result of the research, systemic deficiencies and gaps in legislation have been identified that need to be addressed. Additionally, the author proposes a new definition of the term “food security.”

Harnessing women’s potential for food production and security has been a challenge in Southern Africa. The face of food production in Southern Africa is often female, but more often than not, their roles are generally undervalued and constrained by gender inequalities and limitations on their access to resources, services, and market opportunities. This chapter explores how women involvement in food production can have a positive impact on food security in Southern Africa. The gender aspect of food security assume significance, as it is widely recognized that women are the custodian of food production in many communities in Southern Africa. There is a tendency of men and women participating unevenly in food production, have unequal access to productive resources and exhibit different levels of engagement in rural, urban and home-based food production. Despite this anomaly, there is still a common understanding that food production needs to be increased in order to cope with the increased human population and achieving food security in the region. With this in mind, food production and security have emerged as key development targets in Southern Africa. This has propelled the urgent need for promoting food production, reducing food insecurity and poverty reduction in its totality. One of the factors contributing to perpetual low food production and insecurity has been gender discrimination and/or lack of participation of women in agricultural programs and projects. In this chapter there is an attempt to describe the impact of gender-based discrimination on food production and its implication on food security. The indispensable role and challenges faced by women in food production are highlighted. The need to invest in education and training of women to support food production systems in order to accrue maximum benefit is acknowledged. In this regard, it is imperative that planning and implementation of any food production programs focusing on improving food security should be based on gender sensitive policies. Policies which give women due recognition as far as food production decision making processes are concerned are sought. The chapter concludes with the understanding that involvement of women in food production becomes a key component of addressing food insecurity in Southern Africa. The vulnerability of people in Southern Africa to food insecurity depends both on measures that can be implemented in a given context and the capacity of families, and women in particular, to respond to food shortages. It is important, therefore that food security remains high on the regional development agenda. The region should prioritize appropriate interventions which help women fully participate in food production and develop sustainable livelihoods.

In modern society, the quality and safety of food plays an important role. To ensure these significant indicators, it is necessary to create an effective system of state control. Such a system has been most successfully implemented in countries and associations such as the European Union, the United States of America and Japan. Successful attempts are also being made in Ukraine's neighboring countries to establish a system of coordination and control over the quality and safety of food products. In addition, many countries implemented sanitary control system based on HACCP and policy from farm to consumer and the system of rapid alerts on threats to food and animal feed. The European Union supervision of compliance requirements and standards, which aim to guarantee food safety engaged in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. The basic principles of regulating the system of compliance with the quality and safety of food are contained in the Law On Food, Regulation of the European Parliament and the EU Council №178 / 2002 EU. In the United States, food safety is monitored by a number of government agencies at various levels: federal, state, and local. At the federal level, 15 agencies collectively administer at least 30 food safety laws. In Japan, food safety is regulated by the Food Sanitation Act. According to the Act responsibility for ensuring safe food is shared by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In the Republic of Belarus, the main legal act in the field of food security is the Law On the quality and safety of raw materials and food for human life and health. Confirmation of the quality and safety of food products can be obtained at the Republican Unitary Enterprise Scientific and Practical Center of Hygiene. The National Agency for Food Safety has been established on the territory of the Republic of Moldova to effectively solve the tasks of ensuring and controlling the quality and safety of food products. It operates jointly with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and the Environment, and the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.

The main objective of this paper is to present a new ‘innovation-cycle’ integrated conceptual framework of ‘TVET-adaptive AKSI’ (TVET: Technical and Vocational Education and Training; AKSI: Agricultural Knowledge System and Innovation). Thus the aim here is to discuss from existing body of literature of how ‘TVET-adaptive AKSI’ can be the ‘Next Frontier of Green Innovation’ and adaptation strategy to improve agricultural-based producers’ understanding of ‘risk perception and mitigation’ (a case of Bangladesh is considered). Given the present state of producers’ risks perceptions and the increased risks of safe agricultural food production, sustainable environment and health, it will be unprecedented challenges due to increasing demand for safe food supply for future growing population in Bangladesh. Studies show that producers (farmers) are still lagging behind with lack of necessary capacities including shortage of adequate knowledge of understanding in both ‘environmental’ and ‘health’ risks, which are contributing to excessive use of pesticides, fertilizers and agrochemicals for agricultural production, mixing of prohibited or hazardous chemicals with foods and foodstuffs for food adulteration, post-harvest preservation, and processing without being sufficiently aware of health and environmental consequences. To address the issue, very little investigations were done to understand how producers’ perception and ignorance of risks are interconnected to the ways of their risky behaviour. Thus the aim of this paper is to explore existing literature to draw an understanding by developing a ‘conceptual framework’ about the urgent need of future ‘Game Changer’ strategy (e.g. Next Frontier of Green Innovation) for the safety and security of rapidly growing population by tackling the challenges of sustainable agricultural and safe food production in Bangladesh.   Key words: Agricultural knowledge system, Bangladesh, climate change adaptation, conceptual framework, next frontier of green innovation, networks, risk perception and ignorance, risk mitigation, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Food security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. Food security is built on four pillars: availability, access, utilization and stability. Food and nutrition security embraces meeting energy, protein and nutrient needs for healthy life. Food systems overlap with agricultural systems in the area of food production, but also comprise the diverse set of institutions, technologies and practices that govern the way food is marketed, processed, transported, accessed and consumed. The food system activities are grouped into four categories: producing food, processing and packaging food, distributing and retailing food, and consuming food. The review paper aims at highlighting the connections and linkages between food sustainability and food security. There are very strong linkages between food and nutrition security, responsible environmental stewardship and greater fairness in food management. They intersect in agricultural and food systems at the global, national and local levels. Today, the main concern for the food and agricultural sector is to provide simultaneously enough food, in quantity and quality, to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population and to conserve natural resources for future generations. A sustainable food system supports food security, makes optimal use of natural and human resources, is culturally acceptable and accessible, environmentally sound and economically fair and viable, and provides the consumer with nutritionally adequate, safe, healthy and affordable food for present and future generations. Changes in both food consumption and food production are important to ensure more sustainable food systems and to achieve food and nutrition security in the Mediterranean region. Since diets sustainability is of paramount importance for achieving food and nutrition security, there is an urgent need to design and implement appropriate policies to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the current food consumption patterns.

Food and nutrition security builds resilience in a society when people have access to safe and nutritious foods. The Barents region, covering the Northern parts of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and the North-western part of Russia, seeks common goals that include the well-being of the region’s inhabitants by ensuring preservation of local culture and social and environmental sustainability. This paper reviews existing literature on food and nutrition security in relation to building resilience and promoting well-being in the region. Amongst the local communities, traditional foods have served as a major source of healthy diet that ensures food security. Access to secure, nutritious, and healthy food is one of the aspects offering greater human security and societal stability. Traditional food has served as a major source of healthy diet, in particular, in the remote sparsely populated Barents region and amongst the local communities of the region. However, there is concern about global climate change and its effect on the region and pollution from human activities, such as the extractive industrial activities, that are detrimental to safe and secure food supply chain. In this paper, I highlight the contribution of traditional foods to food security in the Barents region. In addition, the paper emphasized that value addition to these traditional foods will help to stimulate the economy by creating new jobs. Ultimately, ensuring food and nutrition security in a sustainable way within the region will help to build resilience and promote culture and ecology with a view to offering greater human and societal security.

Economic Reforms and Food Security

The present study aimed to determine the risk levels affecting food safety and security in foods distributed to earthquake victims by organizations. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in food distribution organizations in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay between 20–24 February 2023 (N = 40). The data were collected face-to-face by using the Descriptive Data Form and Food Safety and Security Observation Form (FSSOF) developed by the researchers. According to FSSOF, organizations had a 41.6% risk concerning food safety and security. According to the multiple linear regression analysis, organizations that did not control the foods were found to be associated with an increased total score of FSSOF (β: -0.527, p = 0.010). No relationships could be found between the type of organization, the population served, having a food technologist and/or dietitian, the distance between the organization and waste, and the total scores of FSSOF (p > 0.05). The organizations that did not control the food were found to be associated with Organization-specific conditions (β: -0.623, p = 0.002), Food distribution conditions (β: -0.531, p = 0.015), Personnel hygiene (β: -0.608, p = 0.005), Food security (β: -0.480, p = 0.036) and Environmental conditions (β: -0.537, p = 0.018) were found to be associated with an increased level of risks. Also, not having an engineer and/or dietitian was associated with an increased risk of Food storage practices (β: -0.469, p = 0.005), and increased the number of staff was associated with an increased risk of Organization-specific conditions (β: 0.348, p = 0.007). The level of risk of the organizations concerning food safety and security was found to be relatively high. Control of the food provided was the most important determinant of food safety and security.

Climate change, famine, and low-income communities challenge Sustainable Development Goals

The article examines regulatory legal acts and other documents and literary sources regarding state control of food safety and quality in Great Britain, Germany, France, the USA and Japan. The health of every nation largely depends on the quality and safety of food products. In any country, at the state level, requirements for product safety and quality are regulated and their compliance is ensured. One of the methods of such provision is state control. The article analyzes the practices of controlling the quality and safety of food products in the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan. It was revealed that there are both common and special rules in the practice of controlling the quality and safety of food products in the studied countries. In all countries, control over the quality and safety of food products is carried out by state bodies. In all countries, during control, special attention is paid to the reliability of product labeling. Improper labeling entails banning the sale of products, removal from circulation or destruction of particularly dangerous products, and even criminal liability in France and the USA. The main responsibility for dangerous food products in all countries is borne by the manufacturers or suppliers of the products who put them into circulation. In the USA and Japan, information about the presence of allergens in a food product must be included in the labeling. In the USA, in order for the manufacturer's products to be able to be supplied for a government order, the enterprise must implement a quality management system in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001, and in Japan, in order to obtain a permit for the manufacture of food products, it is necessary to prove that proper sanitary and hygienic control is ensured by implementing HACCP system. In Germany, Great Britain, and Japan, quality and safety control is entrusted to local self-government bodies. In Germany, there is a product safety monitoring program throughout the territory, which makes it possible to monitor the appearance of dangerous products on the market, as well as to check the effectiveness of the established MPC of dangerous substances. The presence of "passports" for ready-made food products is checked only in France, although such a document is mandatory in EU countries. In France and Japan, exceptional importance is attached to the education of schoolchildren on food safety issues.

The influence of climate change on food production and food safety

South Africa is food secure at national level, but not at household level. Some communities experience food shortages for a certain period during the month or for a period during the year. This is a food security threat to the community, as long as food loss and waste is not given the attention it deserves. Food loss mostly takes place at post-harvest and throughout the value chain until it reaches the consumer. Sweet potatoes are not spared from such losses. These losses tend to undermine the impact of sweet potato as a food security crop. This study was conducted to determine sweet potato food loss experienced at different stages of the value chain. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a number of entities that are involved in the sweet potato food value chain and have purchased sweet potato material from the Agricultural Research Council. These entities were located in four provinces of the country where sweet potato is mostly produced and processed. Moreover, these entities were involved in at least one post-harvest (value chain) activity. The results indicated that small-scale sweet potato producers sold sweet potato to the local informal market while commercial producers with washing facilities, pack-houses and distributor licenses were supplying established formal markets. Sweet potato processing was done by commercial entities only, not small-scale entities. Sweet potato food loss was experienced throughout the food value chain beginning from crop growth where poor weed management and pest attack was observed. Sweet potato breakages and skinning were predominantly experienced during the post-harvest stage. “Out of specification” losses were experienced at packing and distribution stage while at processing stage, losses were through peeling and removal of insect bites/lesions. No losses were reported at the storage of processed sweet potato stage because entities had well established infrastructure to prevent losses. Processing of sweet potato and other crops reduces food loss and further strengthens the agrifood system and extends shelf-life of food crops to provide food and nutrition security. Key words: Agri-food, post-harvest, food waste, commercial processing, small-scale, informal markets

Managing Education for Food And Health Security: The Experience of EhimeMbano and Isiala Mbano Local Government Areas of Imo State Nigeria

Introduction. People’s satisfaction with food safety and quality is an important component of overall satisfaction with a sanitary-epidemiological situation on a given territory. It is based on consumer criteria of quality and safety, which do not have the same significance. The aim of this study was to assess satisfaction with food quality and safety in population in Russian megacities determined relying on consumer criteria. Materials and methods. The study involved accomplishing a formalized survey, which was conducted in Novosibirsk and Perm among people aged 18 years and older (river sampling, quotas per age, sex and place of residence). Data were collected over the period between October 6, 2024 and November 6, 2024. A specifically designed survey tool was used in the process, which enabled calculating an integral index of satisfaction for each respondent. Results. Several key criteria were named by consumers to detect a product quality for all product groups such as ‘freshness; expiration date has not been reached’ (this criterion is among top five for all product groups suggested for evaluation); ‘pleasant taste’; ‘conforms to State Standards (GOST), quality standards’. Safety criteria determined by consumers included ‘storage under proper conditions’; ‘absence of any strange taste’; ‘expiration date has not been reached’. Significance of these criteria varied depending on consumers’ sex, age, family situation and economic status. The lowest level of consumer satisfaction with product quality, according to the integral index estimation, was identified for soft drinks (21.4 % of consumers were unsatisfied, the index value was ≤0.4) and vegetables (19.7%); the lowest level of satisfaction with food safety was identified for eggs (27.9% of consumers unsatisfied, the index value was ≤0.4), bread and bakery products (26.6%), poultry (23.9%), meat and meat products (23.8%), milk and milk products (22.6%). Satisfaction with food safety is a) lower than satisfaction with quality, b) is different in various socio-demographic groups. Limitations. The research object was represented by people who live in cities with their population exceeding 1 million; a sample was created by using non-random techniques and this resulted in its deviation from a total population per several social and demographic parameters (this deviation was partially compensated for by using the weighting procedure). Conclusion. It is important to consider consumers’ satisfaction with food quality and safety when developing activities aimed at communications with executive regional and local authorities in RF regions as well as with population as regards the existing sanitary-epidemiological situation. Various managerial actions have been recommended depending on how people are distributed per categories of satisfaction, which were created using the results obtained by estimations based on the integral index.