Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security?
Abstract Background On an individual level, food security has multiple dimensions and consumers exhibit heterogeneity in the extent to which different attributes matter in their quest for enhanced food security. The aim of this paper is to explain how the quest for individual food security arises an...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Agriculture & Food Security |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00340-7 |
| _version_ | 1828195916211814400 |
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| author | William A. Kerr Jill E. Hobbs |
| author_facet | William A. Kerr Jill E. Hobbs |
| author_sort | William A. Kerr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background On an individual level, food security has multiple dimensions and consumers exhibit heterogeneity in the extent to which different attributes matter in their quest for enhanced food security. The aim of this paper is to explain how the quest for individual food security arises and its dynamic nature and its implications for how food security-enhancing attributes are defined and how they are signaled, and for the role of regulators and food supply chains in establishing credible signals. Results The paper finds that the quest for enhanced individual food security is a dynamic process that responds to the disequilibrium that change brings. The changing role of standards and grades as signals in food markets is discussed as a precursor to considering the implications for both market and non-market (regulatory) failure in determining the appropriate role for the public sector in regulating food safety and quality standards and labeling. The rise of private standards is examined, along with a consideration of how these standards differ in terms of scope and objective and their implications for international trade in increasingly globalized food supply chains. Conclusions Despite the growth of private standards, a clear role remains for mandatory public standards, yet challenges arise when these standards differ across countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:51:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b87fe415c80f478399dd858c267b95b2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2048-7010 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:51:20Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture & Food Security |
| spelling | doaj.art-b87fe415c80f478399dd858c267b95b22022-12-22T03:37:49ZengBMCAgriculture & Food Security2048-70102022-01-0111111310.1186/s40066-021-00340-7Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security?William A. Kerr0Jill E. Hobbs1Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of SaskatchewanDepartment of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of SaskatchewanAbstract Background On an individual level, food security has multiple dimensions and consumers exhibit heterogeneity in the extent to which different attributes matter in their quest for enhanced food security. The aim of this paper is to explain how the quest for individual food security arises and its dynamic nature and its implications for how food security-enhancing attributes are defined and how they are signaled, and for the role of regulators and food supply chains in establishing credible signals. Results The paper finds that the quest for enhanced individual food security is a dynamic process that responds to the disequilibrium that change brings. The changing role of standards and grades as signals in food markets is discussed as a precursor to considering the implications for both market and non-market (regulatory) failure in determining the appropriate role for the public sector in regulating food safety and quality standards and labeling. The rise of private standards is examined, along with a consideration of how these standards differ in terms of scope and objective and their implications for international trade in increasingly globalized food supply chains. Conclusions Despite the growth of private standards, a clear role remains for mandatory public standards, yet challenges arise when these standards differ across countries.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00340-7GradesIndividual food securityInformation asymmetryLabelingMarket and Non-market failureStandards |
| spellingShingle | William A. Kerr Jill E. Hobbs Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security? Agriculture & Food Security Grades Individual food security Information asymmetry Labeling Market and Non-market failure Standards |
| title | Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security? |
| title_full | Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security? |
| title_fullStr | Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security? |
| title_short | Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security? |
| title_sort | is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer s food security |
| topic | Grades Individual food security Information asymmetry Labeling Market and Non-market failure Standards |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00340-7 |
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