Costs of Healthy Eating
last authored: Feb 2010, Rebecca Green-LaPierre
Our basic needs of food, water, shelter, and safety are fundamental to survival. The United Nations has designated food as a basic human right (Rome Declaration, 1996), and WHO lists food as one of the essential prerequisites for health (WHO, 1986) and considers household food and nutrition security as a basic human right (WHO, Food Security Study).
Canada was one of 186 countries to sign the Declaration on World Food Security, an international commitment resulting from the 1996 Rome World Food Summit of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Canada’s endorsement of the Declaration is outlined in Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security (Canada, 2009) which outlines a national approach to food security with ten main priorities centered on both food systems and food access.
There are various proposed definitions of food security. The Nova Scotia Food Security Network considers food security to be “when all people, at all times, have access to nutritious, safe, personally acceptable and culturally appropriate foods, and, that the food supply is procured, produced and distributed in ways that are sustainable, environmentally sound and socially just”. (adapted from Fairholm,1999)
Food Secure Canada has three main requirements for Canada to be considered food secure: that there be zero hunger, we have a sustainable food system, and that all people have access to healthy and safe foods.
In Canada, inadequate income is the most significant determinant of food insecurity (Raine, 2005). Health Canada has developed a survey tool called the National Nutritious Food Basket (NNFB) to analyze the cost of a nutritious diet. The food items in the NNFB reflect current food buying patterns and national nutrition guidelines. Advocacy groups across the country such as the Nova Scotia Participatory Food Costing Projects and the Community Nutritionists Council of BC have been analyzing the cost and affordability of nutritious food using the NNFB for almost a decade. In Nova Scotia, between 2002 and 2008 the NNFB increased in price by almost 18% (ref).
Unfortunately research shows that many lower income households, such as those receiving income assistance and those working for minimum wage, are unable to afford a nutritious diet. The Cost of Eating in BC 2009 (ref) found that a family of four on income assistance would need more than 100% of their income for shelter and food only. Income-related food insecurity is an issue from coast to coast in Canada.
Strategies to address food insecurity are many:
- Food banks
- Soup kitchens
- Food stamp programs
- Community kitchens
- Community gardens
- School breakfast programs
- Food costing studies
- Poverty reduction strategies
- Homelessness initiatives
- Food policy councils
Some strategies only provide a temporary solution to address immediate hunger (e.g. a soup kitchen), while influencing public policy regarding welfare rates, national school food programs, and subsidized day cares, for examples, can have far reaching effects on a household’s budget and therefore ability to afford nutritious foods.
A useful database of food security resources can be found at: http://foodsecurecanada.org/bits-bytes-database
Resources and References
Raine KD. 2005. Determinants of healthy eating in Canada: an overview and synthesis. 96(3):8-15.
Rome Declaration on World Food Security, 1996. World Food Summit
The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986. World Health Organization
World Health Organization - Household Food and Nutrition Security
Canada's Action Plan for Food Security, 2009
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