Dietitians of Canada

Individual and household food security

Background

People with “food security” are able to get healthy food that they can afford. Canada enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world. However, over 10 percent of Canadians do not have enough money to buy safe and nutritious food. This prevents them from:

• Meeting their dietary needs
• Having the foods they prefer
• Enjoying a healthy diet

The main cause of food insecurity is poverty.

Position

Dietitians believe that food security is a basic right for all Canadians. Yet, about three million Canadians cannot afford to buy healthy food.

DC recommends a population health approach to food security. This means that we need to work towards all Canadians having access to safe and healthy food. A poverty reduction strategy is needed since poverty is the root cause of food insecurity.

Actions

In 2005, DC published a position paper on individual and household food insecurity. Dietitians across Canada have used the Position Paper to advocate for food security for all Canadians. Dietitians are involved in:

• Supporting community food programs
• Conducting and applying research findings
• Being part of groups to support poverty reduction and better access to healthy food
• Doing an annual costing of a nutritious food basket and using the results to advocate for better access to healthy food and poverty reduction measures.