scholarly journals Local Food Campaign in a Globalization Context: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7487
Author(s):  
Susan (Sixue) Jia

As a basic commodity, food has undergone thorough globalization, with the global food market totaling 1392 billion USD in 2019. Despite such a great amount of global food trade, the idea of favouring the consumption of local food, or local food campaigns, has won ever growing attention and advocacy in recent years as an effort to enhance social and environmental sustainability. This systematic review study draws wisdom from the extant literature and provides critical thinking on how local food differs from non-local food and whether the two are more antagonistic or more complementary. Results suggest that although the term “local food” has hardly been clearly defined, it is possible to accommodate different opinions in a set of common constructs in Eriksen’s “three domains of proximity”. Regarding the strengths of local food, researchers agree more on its strong personal connection, distinctive culture, and high quality, but less on its supporting local economy, reduced energy consumption, and environmental friendliness. Meanwhile, local food has its current weaknesses in terms of higher price and unsuccessful information communication; however, these are not without solutions. Overall, while food localization and globalization differ in purpose, they can well co-exist, promote collaboration rather than confrontation, and together accelerate the sustainable growth of the food market.

Author(s):  
Colleen Derkatch ◽  
Philippa Spoel

This article explores how the recent and growing promotion of local foods by public health units in Ontario, Canada, rhetorically interpellates the “good” health citizen as someone who not only takes responsibility for personal health but, through the consumption and support of “local food,” also accepts and fulfills her responsibilities to care for the local economy, the community’s well-being, and the natural environment. Drawing on Charland’s concept of constitutive rhetoric, we analyze a selection of public health unit documents about local food to develop a textured account of the complex, multifaceted forms of health citizenship they constitute. Our analysis reveals that, despite their appeals to environmental sustainability and community well-being, these materials primarily characterize the ideal health citizen as an informed consumer who supports the interests of the neoliberal state through individualized lifestyle behaviors, consuming goods produced and distributed through private enterprise. By exhorting individuals to “buy local,” public health discourse therefore frames responsible health citizenship principally in consumerist terms that constrain the range of available options for citizens to engage in meaningful action vis-à-vis their food systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7652
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Cavallo ◽  
Chiara Lorini ◽  
Giuseppe Garamella ◽  
Guglielmo Bonaccorsi

Moderate or severe food insecurity affect 2 billion people worldwide. The four pillars of food security (availability, access, use and stability) are in danger due to the impact of climatic and anthropogenic factors which impact on the food system. Novel foods, like seaweeds, have the potential to increase food yields so that to contribute in preventing or avoiding future global food shortages. The purpose of this systematic review was to assess microbiological, chemical, physical, and allergenic risks associated with seaweed consumption. Four research strings have been used to search for these risks. Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were applied. Finally, 39 articles met the selected criteria. No significant hazards for microbiological, allergenic, and physical risks were detected. Regarding chemical risk, algae can accumulate various heavy metals, especially when harvested in polluted sites. Cultivating seaweeds in a controlled environment allows to avoid this risk. Periodic checks will be necessary on the finished products to monitor heavy metals levels. Since the consumption of algae seems to be on the rise everywhere, it seems to be urgent that food control authorities establish the safety levels to which eating algae does not represent any risk for human health.


Author(s):  
Maria K. Koytcheva ◽  
Leah K. Sauerwein ◽  
Tracy L. Webb ◽  
Stacey A. Baumgarn ◽  
Sadie A. Skeels ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5294
Author(s):  
Boglárka Anna Éliás ◽  
Attila Jámbor

For decades, global food security has not been able to address the structural problem of economic access to food, resulting in a recent increase in the number of undernourished people from 2014. In addition, the FAO estimates that the number of undernourished people drastically increased by 82–132 million people in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To alleviate this dramatic growth in food insecurity, it is necessary to understand the nature of the increase in the number of malnourished during the pandemic. In order to address this, we gathered and synthesized food-security-related empirical results from the first year of the pandemic in a systematic review. The vast majority (78%) of the 51 included articles reported household food insecurity has increased (access, utilization) and/or disruption to food production (availability) was a result of households having persistently low income and not having an adequate amount of savings. These households could not afford the same quality and/or quantity of food, and a demand shortfall immediately appeared on the producer side. Producers thus had to deal not only with the direct consequences of government measures (disruption in labor flow, lack of demand of the catering sector, etc.) but also with a decline in consumption from low-income households. We conclude that the factor that most negatively affects food security during the COVID-19 pandemic is the same as the deepest structural problem of global food security: low income. Therefore, we argue that there is no need for new global food security objectives, but there is a need for an even stronger emphasis on poverty reduction and raising the wages of low-income households. This structural adjustment is the most fundamental step to recover from the COVID-19 food crises, and to avoid possible future food security crises.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22
Author(s):  
Bernhard Ohlmeier

Abstract Education for sustainable development (ESD) often fails to consider the political dimension. To address this gap, this paper focuses on a specific political approach to ESD. The model presented is derived from the four sustainable growth targets of German Development Policy. Instead of relying on a neo-classical or neo-liberal economic paradigm, however, the goals of social justice, environmental sustainability, economic productivity and good governance are interpreted using a sustainability model. This model is anchored in a steady-state economy that has overcome the myth of unlimited material growth and seeks to stay within the limits of the planet's resources. The preconditions of good governance are outlined, and it is described how the state and civil society can contribute to this normative goal. In addition to social, ecological, economic and political components, the presented model for civic education for sustainability considers conflicts between different development components and the need for horizontal and vertical coherence. In conclusion, the paper shows that civic education for sustainability must aim to produce informed and empowered global citizens. Citizens should have the ability to employ their knowledge and skills responsibly through local and global civic involvement while also remaining aware of their own interests. Furthermore, it falls to educational policy makers to create national as well as international organisational structures that facilitate civic ESD.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Kachel-Jakubowska ◽  
Artur Kraszkiewicz ◽  
Marta Krajewska

AbstractCurrently, many countries are establishing goals for substituting fossil fuels with biomass. This global trade in solid biofuels, which is to some extent already taking place, will have a major impact not only on other commodity markets like vegetable oils or animal fodder but also on the global land use change and on environmental impacts. It demonstrates the strong but complex link between biofuels production and the global food market, it unveils policy measures as the main drivers for production and use of biofuels and it analyzes various sustainability indicators and certification schemes for biofuels with respect to minimizing the adverse effects of biofuels. Biomass is seen as a very promising option for fulfilling the environmental goals defined by the European Commission as well as various national governments. We have measured selected physicochemical properties of several the most common oilseeds and the residue materials in the form of cakes, moisture, fat, heat of combustion, the calorific value and ash content. The results showed that the considered plants and waste derived therefrom can be a good energy source. Examples include sunflower oilcake, sesame, pumpkin and rapeseed cake, for which the calorific value amounted to respectively: 28.17; 27.77; 26.42 and 21.69 MJ·kg−1.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Xénia Szanyi-Gyenes ◽  
György Mudri ◽  
Mária Bakosné Böröcz

The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is unquestionable in the European economies, while financial opportunities are still inadequate for them. The more than 20 million SMEs play a significant role in European economic growth, innovation and job creation. According to the latest EC Annual Report , SMEs are accounting for 99% of all non-financial enterprises, employing 88.8 million people and generating almost EUR 3.7 tn in added value for our economy. Despite the fact that there is plenty of EU funding available for these SMEs, for certain reasons these funds hardly reach them. But we have to see that the EU supports SMEs by various way, e.g. by grants, regulatory changes, financial instrument, direct funds. On the other hand, SMEs and decision makers realised that the environmental sustainability has to be attached to the economic growth, therefore more and more tools are available for these enterprises. Over the last few years, public institutions, the market, the financial community and non-governmental associations have explicitly demanded that firms improve their environmental performance. One of the greatest opportunities might lay in the Climate- and Energy Strategy till 2030 as 20% of the EU budget is allocated to climate-related actions, however the easy access to finance is still a key question. Does the EU recognise the actual difficulties? Is there a systemic reason behind the absorption problems? Is the EU creating a more businessfriendly environment for SMEs, facilitating access to finance, stimulates the green and sustainable growth and improving access to new markets? The paper analyses the current European situation of the SMEs and the effectiveness of some new tools, which are specially targeting SMEs. JEL classification: Q18


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