Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries

The aim of this article is to present the development of cross-country comparable food reference budgets in 26 European countries, and to discuss their usefulness as an addition to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for tackling food insecurity in low-income groups. Reference budgets are illustrat...

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Main Authors: Carrillo-Álvarez, E, Penne, T, Boeckx, H, Storms, B, Goedemé, T
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2018
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author Carrillo-Álvarez, E
Penne, T
Boeckx, H
Storms, B
Goedemé, T
author_facet Carrillo-Álvarez, E
Penne, T
Boeckx, H
Storms, B
Goedemé, T
author_sort Carrillo-Álvarez, E
collection OXFORD
description The aim of this article is to present the development of cross-country comparable food reference budgets in 26 European countries, and to discuss their usefulness as an addition to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for tackling food insecurity in low-income groups. Reference budgets are illustrative priced baskets containing the minimum goods and services necessary for well-described types of families to have an adequate social participation. This study was conducted starting from national FBDG, which were translated into monthly food baskets. Next, these baskets were validated in terms of their acceptability and feasibility through focus group discussions, and finally they were priced. Along the paper, we show how that food reference budgets hold interesting contributions to the promotion of healthy eating and prevention of food insecurity in low-income contexts in at least four ways: (1) they show how a healthy diet can be achieved with limited economic resources, (2) they bring closer to the citizen a detailed example of how to put FBDG recommendations into practice, (3) they ensure that food security is achieved in an integral way, by comprising the biological but also psychological and social functions of food, and (4) providing routes for further (comparative) research into food insecurity.
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spelling oxford-uuid:f8aec388-6db8-499d-beba-995cfee5f9c32022-03-27T12:52:08ZFood reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countriesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f8aec388-6db8-499d-beba-995cfee5f9c3EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordMDPI2018Carrillo-Álvarez, EPenne, TBoeckx, HStorms, BGoedemé, TThe aim of this article is to present the development of cross-country comparable food reference budgets in 26 European countries, and to discuss their usefulness as an addition to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for tackling food insecurity in low-income groups. Reference budgets are illustrative priced baskets containing the minimum goods and services necessary for well-described types of families to have an adequate social participation. This study was conducted starting from national FBDG, which were translated into monthly food baskets. Next, these baskets were validated in terms of their acceptability and feasibility through focus group discussions, and finally they were priced. Along the paper, we show how that food reference budgets hold interesting contributions to the promotion of healthy eating and prevention of food insecurity in low-income contexts in at least four ways: (1) they show how a healthy diet can be achieved with limited economic resources, (2) they bring closer to the citizen a detailed example of how to put FBDG recommendations into practice, (3) they ensure that food security is achieved in an integral way, by comprising the biological but also psychological and social functions of food, and (4) providing routes for further (comparative) research into food insecurity.
spellingShingle Carrillo-Álvarez, E
Penne, T
Boeckx, H
Storms, B
Goedemé, T
Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries
title Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries
title_full Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries
title_fullStr Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries
title_full_unstemmed Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries
title_short Food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity: lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 European countries
title_sort food reference budgets as a potential policy tool to address food insecurity lessons learned from a pilot study in 26 european countries
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