Towards sustainable food security: issues, initiatives and guiding principles

The health crisis has made visible and aggravated food insecurity [1] in France and shown the limits of the institutional response to it. The reasons are known: on the one hand, the lack of economic income of the populations concerned, which leads, in conjunction with degraded living conditions, to nutritional imbalances and health risks; On the other hand, the charitable policies of public policies carried out since the mid -1980s which make the fight against food insecurity is almost essentially limited to the distribution of food aid. In addition, France is crossed by social inequalities in food which do not only concern people in food insecurity and who contribute to social health inequalities.

The objective of this Report is to clarify the challenges linked to food insecurity in France and to develop guiding principles to promote devices and a political context favorable to sustainable food security, which we define: sustainable food security [2] exists when All individuals have access (economical, physical and social) egalitarian to sustainable food [3] in a coordinated and lasting manner. For this, on the one hand we go further than the simple observation of the limits of food aid by analyzing their causes and, on the other hand, we explore the potentials of different devices with regard to their ability to promote food security sustainable. This report is at the crossroads of several disciplines: nutrition and public health, environment and economics and management.

This report is organized in four chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter poses the elements of context; The second describes the structural limits of the current food aid system to combat food insecurity in France; The third presents our analysis of the potential of existing, conventional or alternative systems, to promote sustainable food security; And the fourth offers guiding principles for devices and a context favorable to sustainable food security, with a focus on the proposal of a Social Food Security (SSA) as a track responding to these guiding principles.

In France, the treatment of food insecurity is the subject of so -called "food precariousness" policies, which are based on the food aid sector and support it financially. In 2010, the distribution of food aid in the form of foodstuffs was registered for the first time in the agricultural modernization law, the Egalim law (taking over from the Garot law of 2016 on food waste) obliges the Operators of the large and medium food distribution, collective catering, agrifood industries and wholesale trade operators to give their dietary surplus and unsolds to associations authorized to distribution.

An analysis of the operation of 'Food help shows that it has many limits, some of which directly result from public policies choices. Thus associate the fight against food precariousness in the fight against food waste by relying on the distribution of foodstuffs organized by the charity sector induces or strengthens negative effects which limit the capacity of the system to really and permanently solve the problem of 'Food insecurity in France. Among these negative effects, we can note: the paradoxical dependence of food deposits available for food aid (high expected) for food waste (expected low), dependence on volunteering, the logistical complexity induced by the choices that are necessary Associations in terms of food streams, the administrative complexity inherent in European food aid financing systems and the French authorization for associations as well as funding by tax deductions. Another major negative effect is non-recourse to food aid by a large part of people in food insecurity, and this for multiple reasons including the difficulties of access to this aid and/or the will to do not Not to affect his dignity to be "called for help" for a need as vital as to feed and feed his loved ones.

In the end, existing public policies are only attached to symptoms of the 'Food insecurity and never to its deep causes: namely the level of poverty and its intensity for part of the population. The choice to respond to it with the distribution of foods not selected on the basis of sustainability criteria and also not chosen by those who "benefit" do not allow the ambition of sustainable food security. << /p>

We then analyzed the potential of different types of existing devices in France (conventional and alternative) with regard to a list of criteria that we have identified as likely to promote sustainable food security, based on international definitions of food security and sustainable food. This analysis highlighted three main targets of action of devices: action on economic accessibility, on empowerment [4] and on physical accessibility. In addition, we have identified three main categories of devices for eligibility criteria and targeted audiences: devices targeting people in precarious situations with eligibility criteria giving access to resource conditions, the devices targeting people in situations of precariousness with an access extended to all (diversity of audiences and progressive pricing), and the non -targeted devices. The advantages and limits of the different types of devices are discussed. The principles of these systems are not independent of the debates on social policies of minimum income, which are based on the possibility of the criteria of universality and conditionality to constraints of integration into the labor market. These principles inspire the tracks for new devices targeting food that could be universal and unconditional, such as the Social Security Proposal for Food (SSA) based on the general French social protection regime.

The entire analysis made it possible to propose guiding principles for devices and a context favorable to sustainable food security. These guiding principles are proposed on three levels: i) the targets of the actions of the system, ii) the internal and external organization of the system, and III) the political context. They rely on a base of transversal and prerequisites: a local diagnosis of needs, the availability of an offer allowing sustainable food, the resilience of the device and the sustainability of its positive impact. According to these guiding principles, a system favorable to sustainable food security guarantees access (economic, physical and social) egalitarian to sustainable food, empowerment (individual, collective, political) and social inclusion (social ties, " Going back ”, respect for dignity) in a coordinated and sustainable manner (sustainability of the impact, sustainability of the device). food without rethinking its foundations. Our analysis leads us to plead for a paradigm shift in order to move from a targeted policy on the fight against food insecurity to a policy of promoting sustainable food security for the entire population, which must integrate to the more global prevention of social, territorial and health inequalities in France and the protection of the environment. Online with the recent opinion n ° 89 of the CNA, which recommends carrying out "improving existing food aid" and "the implementation of a fundamental food base", a social security device Food (SSA) based on i) The principles of right to sustainable food guaranteeing universal access, ii) subscription as a mode of financing a universal food allowance, iii) The agreement of the actors of the food system by the through a local democracy, and which would integrate a "curative" type axis (including an response to the emergency) and a "preventive" type axis, responds to all the guiding principles that we have identified as important for Promote sustainable food security.

In conclusion, this report highlights the urgency and the need for a political roadmap which will allow positively the transition of food aid to a right food sustainable ation which is all the more necessary given the strong negative impacts of food on the environment in general and climate change in particular. The emerging proposals must be put to the test and their measured efficiency. Public research can help develop a structured approach to analysis of dysfunctions and needs, identification or co-construction of solutions, and assessing the impact of these solutions and their monitoring.

[1] In France, the associative sector and the texts of law refer to the concept of food precariousness. In this report we also use food safety and insecurity terms, from the field of nutrition and public health, because they have an official existence at the international level, and that validated measurement methods have been developed for Evaluate the prevalence. There is food insecurity "when the availability of safe and adequate foods on the nutritional level or the possibility of acquiring foods appropriate by socially acceptable means is limited or uncertain" (Core Indicators of Nutritional State for Difficulty Populations. J NUTR 1990, 120 (Suppl 11): 1559–1600).

[2] There is no official definition of sustainable food security to our knowledge, even if the Expression has been used for a long time (Rome Declaration on World Food Security in 1996: https://www.fao.org/3613f/w3613f00.htm) and that proposals aim to integrate sustainability into the food security concept ( http://www.lafaimexponee.org/la_faim_execee/securite_alimentaire_et_durabilite.html)