Examining the Association between Food Literacy and Food Insecurity

Andrea Begley,Ellen Paynter,Lucy Butcher,Satvinder Dhaliwal

doi:10.3390/nu11020445

Abstract

Poor food literacy behaviours may contribute to food insecurity in developed countries. The aim of this research was to describe the apparent prevalence of food insecurity in adults at enrolment in a food literacy program and to examine the relationship between food insecurity and a range of independent variables. Individuals attending the Food Sensations® for Adults program in Western Australia from May 2016 to April 2018 completed a pre-program questionnaire (n = 1433) indicating if they had run out of money for food in the past month (food insecurity indicator), frequency of food literacy behaviours, selected dietary behaviours, and demographic characteristics. The level of food insecurity reported by participants (n = 1379) was 40.5%. Results from multiple logistic regression demonstrated that behaviours related to planning and management, shopping, preparation, and cooking were all statistically independently associated with food insecurity, in addition to soft/soda drink consumption, education, employment status, and being born in Australia. The results are salient as they indicate an association between food literacy and food insecurity. The implications are that food insecure participants may respond differently to food literacy programs. It may be necessary to screen people enrolling in programs, tailor program content, and include comprehensive measures in evaluation to determine effect on the impact of food literacy programs on different subgroups.

Highlights

Food insecurity is described as the uncertain or limited physical, social and economic access of individuals and households to sufficient, safe, nutritious, and culturally relevant food [1].The complexity of this issue is evident in the four pillars that underpin the strategies required to achieve food security
The aim of this paper is to assess the contribution of food literacy behaviours in identification of food insecure participants enrolling in a state-wide government funded adult food literacy program
Poor food literacy is unlikely to be a major reason for food insecurity, our research has shown there were statistically significant differences in most of the food literacy behaviour frequencies and self-described cooking skills for food insecure participants when compared with food secure

Summary

Introduction

Food insecurity is described as the uncertain or limited physical, social and economic access of individuals and households to sufficient, safe, nutritious, and culturally relevant food [1]. The complexity of this issue is evident in the four pillars (availability, access, utilisation and stability) that underpin the strategies required to achieve food security. Numerous determinants are captured within these pillars including: economic and physical resourcing, food literacy, diet quality and food sufficiency [2]. The area of food security attracting less research is the utilisation pillar and an exploration of household or individual food knowledge, skills, and behaviors is warranted [6].

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