Creating space for sustainable food systems: Lessons from the field

In response to growing trendsin the current food system toward globalintegration, economic consolidation, andenvironmental degradation, communities haveinitiated alternative, more sustainable foodand agricultural systems. Lessons may now belearned about the development and maintenanceof local, sustainable food systems projects –those that attempt to integrate theenvironmental, economic, and social health oftheir food systems in particular places. Fourkinds of space need to be created and protected– social space, political space, intellectualspace, and economic space. Three importantthemes emerge from these community spaces:public participation, new partnerships, and acommitment to social, economic, andenvironmental justice principles.     

Eating Right Here: Moving from Consumer to Food Citizen

The term food citizenship is defined as the practice of engaging in food-related behaviors that support, rather than threaten, the development of a democratic, socially and economically just, and environmentally sustainable food system. Ways to practice food citizenship are described and a role for universities in fostering food citizenship is suggested. Finally, four barriers to food citizenship are identified and described: the current food system, federal food and agriculture policy, local and institutional policies, and the culture of professional nutrition organizations. Jennifer L. Wilkins is a Senior Extension Associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and currently a Kellogg Food and Society Fellow. Her extension and applied research focuses on community food systems, regional dietary guidance, and farm to school connections.     

Advancing the human right to food in Canada: Social policy and the politics of hunger, welfare, and food security

This article argues that hunger in Canada, while being an outcome of unemployment, low incomes, and inadequate welfare, springs also from the failure to recognize and implement the human right to food. Food security has, however, largely been ignored by progressive social policy analysis. Barriers standing in the way of achieving food security include the increasing commodification of welfare and the corporatization of food, the depoliticization of hunger by governments and the voluntary sector, and, most particularly, the neglect by the federal and provincial governments of their obligations to guarantee the domestic right to food as expressed in international human rights law. The interconnectedness of hunger, welfare, and food security issues in a first world society are explored from the perspective of progressive social policy and food security analysis and the development of alternative strategies. In terms of advancing the human right to food in Canada, particular emphasis is placed on the role of the state and civil society, and the social and economic rights of citizenship built on an inclusive social policy analysis and politics of welfare, food security and human rights.     

Buying into the food system: Trends in food retailing in the US and implications for local foods

The contemporary US food systemis characterized by both an unprecedentedconcentration of corporate control as well as afragmentation of sourcing and marketingprocesses, introducing both new constraints andnew opportunities for more localized foodsystems. The purpose of our study is to explorethese issues by investigating three keyquestions. First, what are the key trends inthe US grocery industry? Second, how dodifferent kinds of food outlets choose,procure, and promote food products? Finally,what are the implications of recent trends inthe food retailing process for strengtheninglocal flows of the production, distribution,and consumption of food? Background informationon the grocery industry and the results ofseven open-ended interviews conducted withowners and managers of grocery stores in oneupstate New York county indicate that theretailing process differs in complex ways fromstore to store and in most aspects cannot beinferred from store type. The paper concludeswith a discussion of the implications of ourfindings for local food system efforts,specifically in terms of new collaborationsamong producers, distributors, retailers, andshoppers, who play an indispensable role indeveloping viable alternatives to increasingcorporate control.     

贵州省动物食品安全与生态畜牧业发展

21世纪以来,随着人们生活水平的提高,在选择肉、蛋、奶等动物性食品的要求也逐渐提高,由过去数量型逐渐向质量型转变.人们在关注动物性食品所包含的营养价值的同时,越来越重视其安全和卫生问题.动物食品安全问题已经成为当前全世界消费者选择食品的首要因素.笔者通过对国内外动物食品安全现状及贵州省当前影响动物食品安全的主要因素进行分析,提出解决贵州省动物性食品安全问题的对策及建议.     

基于大食物观的多元化食物供给体系构建研究

构建多元化食物供给体系能够稳定和扩大食物供给,满足人们多样化食物需求的要求,促进农业食物系统转型。本文运用大食物观的思路,通过对相关政策、文献和数据的系统梳理,分析我国在构建多元化食物供给体系上的主要做法,探讨其不足,提出未来构建多元化食物供给体系的对策建议。研究表明,我国在提高国内粮食产量、保障重要农产品的供给、参与农产品国际贸易、树立大农业观和大食物观方面取得了很大的成绩,但同时也存在农产品供给与消费需求不匹配、食物消费多元化不足、国内农产品生产区域布局不平衡、国外农产品进口过度集中、农产品加工多样化程度不高等制约多元化食物供给的障碍。为了更好地构建多元化食物供给体系,应以大食物观来统筹粮食和重要农产品生产,丰富优化食物生产和消费结构,拓宽扩大食物来源,合理布局农产品生产区域,拓宽农业食物系统全产业链,统筹利用好国内和国际两个市场两种资源。     

基于大食物观的多元化食物供给体系构建研究

构建多元化食物供给体系能够稳定和扩大食物供给,满足人们多样化食物需求的要求,促进农业食物系统转型。本文运用大食物观的思路,通过对相关政策、文献和数据的系统梳理,分析我国在构建多元化食物供给体系上的主要做法,探讨其不足,提出未来构建多元化食物供给体系的对策建议。研究表明,我国在提高国内粮食产量、保障重要农产品的供给、参与农产品国际贸易、树立大农业观和大食物观方面取得了很大的成绩,但同时也存在农产品供给与消费需求不匹配、食物消费多元化不足、国内农产品生产区域布局不平衡、国外农产品进口过度集中、农产品加工多样化程度不高等制约多元化食物供给的障碍。为了更好地构建多元化食物供给体系,应以大食物观来统筹粮食和重要农产品生产,丰富优化食物生产和消费结构,拓宽扩大食物来源,合理布局农产品生产区域,拓宽农业食物系统全产业链,统筹利用好国内和国际两个市场两种资源。     

The chisan-chisho movement: Japanese local food movement and its challenges

This paper examines the increasingly popular chisan-chisho movement that has promoted the localization of food consumption in Japan since the late-1990s. Chisan-chisho emerged in the context of a perceived crisis in the Japanese food system, particularly the long-term decline of agriculture and rural community and more recent episodes of food scandals. Although initially started as a grassroots movement, many chisan-chisho initiatives are now organized by governments and farmers’ cooperatives. Acknowledging that the chisan-chisho movement has added some important resources and a conceptual framework, we nonetheless point out that chisan-chisho has been refashioned as a producer movement by government as well as the Japan Agricultural Cooperative, capitalizing on local food’s marketing appeal. Chisan-chisho to date has not been able to become a full-fledged citizen-based political mobilization nor address the issue of marginality in the food system.

种业振兴与粮食安全

种业振兴对保障国家粮食安全具有重要的战略意义。推进中国种业振兴以确保粮食安全,必须坚持大国土观与大食物观,在动态发展格局下解决种业的“卡脖子”问题,在协同发展思路下重视种业振兴的必要匹配条件,在国际竞争与合作视野下拓展种业振兴的发展空间。本文从粮食安全决定因素及其优先序的角度揭示了种业振兴的基础性、关键性与决定性作用;在此基础上,回顾中国种业发展的历程,厘清了种业振兴与粮食安全的关系;在新的粮食安全格局下,解析大食物观下种业振兴的内涵与面临的挑战,对未来中国种业振兴的健康良序发展进行展望并提出对策建议。     

Scaling up: Bringing public institutions and food service corporations into the project for a local,sustainable food system in Ontario

This paper reports on a relationship between the University of Toronto and a non-profit, non-governmental (“third party”) certifying organization called Local Flavour Plus (LFP). The University as of August 2006 requires its corporate caterers to use local and sustainable farm products for a small but increasing portion of meals for most of its 60,000 students. LFP is the certifying body, whose officers and consultants have strong relations of trust with sustainable farmers. It redefines standards and verification to create ladders for farmers, Aramark and Chartwells (the corporations that won the bid), and the University, to continuously raise standards of sustainability. After years of frustrated efforts, other Ontario institutions are expressing interest, opening the possibility that a virtuous circle could lead to rapid growth in local, sustainable supply chains. The paper examines the specificities of the LFP approach and of the Toronto and Canadian context. Individuals in LFP acquired crucial skills, insights, experience, resources, and relationships of trust over 20 years within the Toronto “community of food practice,” located in a supportive municipal, NGO and social movement context. Harriet Friedman PhD, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga and at the Centre for International Studies University of Toronto. Her research is in international and local politics of food and agriculture, focusing on contested transitions between food regimes. Her current research is on politics of standards and certification. Thanks to Lori Stahlbrand, Mike Schreiner, and Rod MacRae of LFP and Debbie Field and Zahra Parvinian of FoodShare for sharing time and insights at length, and to Wayne Roberts of TFPC, David Clandfield of New College, Josee Johnston, and Amber McNair for helpful conversations about our “community of practice.” Thanks to Yossi Cadam for the ladder metaphor.     

The complexities of globalization: The UK as a case study of tensions within the food system and the challenge to food policy

This article proposes a number of arguments about the contemporary food system. Using the UK as a case study, it argues that the food system is marked by tensions and conflicts. The paper explores different strands of public policy as applied to the food system over the last two centuries. It differentiates between various uses of the term globalization and proposes that the real features and dynamics of the new world food order are complex and neither as benign nor as homogeneous as some of its proponents allow. Opposition to the new era of globalization is emerging in the food system. This is already having some impact, questioning not just the products of the food system but the nature of its production and distribution.     

《食品感官鉴评》实践教学的研究与改革

本文阐述了食品感官鉴评课程实践教学的特点和现状,就规范实验室的建设、实践教学人员的培训、实践教学内涵的提升、教学过程的实施及教学方法的科学与规范等做了诠释,并提出相应的改革措施。     

Community food security: Salience and participation at community level

Community food security (CFS) is an incipient movement based on the re-localization of many food system activities in response to values concerning the social, health, economic, and environmental consequences of the globalizing food system. This study examines the salience of these values based on the action agendas and accomplishments emerging from community planning events in six rural counties of New York, and the nature and type of participation and local support. The study finds a high level of agreement between CFS values as articulated by national leaders in this incipient movement and the action agendas. Further evidence of the salience of these themes is seen in the levels and types of activities and accomplishments taking place 8--12 months after the planning events. However, these follow-through activities appear to have been impeded by a variety of government regulations, uneven levels of support from community organizations and agencies, and a policy environment of fiscal austerity, narrow outcome-oriented accountability, and allocation of agency staff toward special-purpose grants and contracts. Many of these constraints are likely to exist in other communities and are beyond the scope of what community volunteers and practitioners can be expected to address on their own.     

食品安全检测现状与对策

基于目前我国食品安全检测现状,文章分析了我国食品安全检测中存在的主要问题,提出应提高消费者的食品安全的意识,及时更新检测设备,完善食品安全的检测标准,鼓励第三方检测机构的健康发展,从而改善食品安全检测存在的问题。     

Reweaving the food security safety net: Mediating entitlement and entrepreneurship

The American food system has produced both abundance and food insecurity, with production and consumption dealt with as separate issues. The new approach of community food security (CFS) seeks to re-link production and consumption, with the goal of ensuring both an adequate and accessible food supply in the present and the future. In its focus on consumption, CFS has prioritized the needs of low-income people; in its focus on production, it emphasizes local and regional food systems. These objectives are not necessarily compatible and may even be contradictory. This article describes the approach of community food security and raises some questions about how the movement can meet its goals of simultaneously meeting the food needs of low-income people and developing local food systems. It explores the conceptual and political promise and pitfalls of local, community-based approaches to food security and examines alternative economic strategies such as urban agriculture and community-supported agriculture. It concludes that community food security efforts are important additions to, but not subsitutes for, a nonretractable governmental safety net that protects against food insecurity.     

Values, public policy, and community food security

Values and beliefs regarding communityfood security were investigated among participants in2–3 day participatory planning events related to thelocal food system in six rural counties from oneregion of upstate New York. The results of Qmethodology reveal three distinct viewpoints: a) theSocial Justice viewpoint, which is primarily concernedwith hunger and the potential harm caused by welfarereform; b) the Pragmatist viewpoint, which values thecontributions agriculture makes to local communitiesand is not concerned about environmental or socialexternalities of the dominant food system; and c) theVisionary viewpoint, which also values agriculture inthe community but is very concerned aboutenvironmental and social externalities. After theplanning events, the Pragmatist viewpoint experiencedan 88% increase in members and the other twoviewpoints became less salient. Various categories ofprofessionals (e.g., nutrition, social welfare,agriculture, environmental) tend to express theviewpoints associated with their professions and/orthe client groups they serve. Despite thesedifferences among participants, the planning events inall six counties resulted in a wide range of goals andobjectives centered on a theme of re-localizing avariety of food system activities. These results arediscussed in relation to the desirability ofdeveloping an explicit philosophy of food andagriculture and the ideal processes required to doso.     

Accessing food resources: Rural and urban patterns of giving and getting food

Reciprocity and redistribution economies are often used by low-income households to increase access to food, adequate diets, and food security. A United States study of two high poverty rural counties and two low-income urban neighborhoods reveal poor urban households are more likely to access food through the redistribution economy than poor rural households. Reciprocal nonmarket food exchanges occur more frequently in low-income rural households studied compared to low-income urban ones. The rural low-income purposeful sample was significantly more likely to give food to family, friends, and neighbors and obtain food such as fish, meat, and garden produce from friends and family compared to the urban low-income group. Further, 58% of the low-income rural group had access to garden produce while only 23% of the low-income urban group reported access. In a rural random sample of the whole population in the two high poverty counties access to garden produce increased chances of attaining recommended vegetable and fruit servings controlling for income, education, and age. Access to a garden also significantly increased the variety of fruits and vegetables in diets.

食品营养标签常见问题与对策分析

食品营养标签是衡量食品安全的重要标准。随着《食品安全法》和《食品安全国家标准预包装食品营养标签》政策的推出,食品营养标签的常见问题也发生了变化。本文分析了食品营养标签存在的问题,及其对市场造成的影响,并提出了解决食品营养标签问题的对策,以期为食品安全生产提供参考。     

Placing the food system on the urban agenda: The role of municipal institutions in food systems planning

Food issues are generally regarded as agricultural and rural issues. The urban food system is less visible than such other systems as transportation, housing, employment, or even the environment. The reasons for its low visibility include the historic process by which issues and policies came to be defined as urban; the spread of processing, refrigeration, and transportation technology together with cheap, abundant energy that rendered invisible the loss of farmland around older cities; and the continuing institutional separation of urban and rural policy. Despite its low visibility, the urban food system nonetheless contributes significantly to community health and welfare; to metropolitan economies; connects to other urban systems such as housing, transportation, land use, and economic development; and impacts the urban environment. We examine existing or potential city institutions that could offer a more comprehensive look at the urban food system. These include the city department of food, the food policy council, and the city-planning department.