Food availability, cost disparity and improvement in relation to accessibility and remoteness in Queensland.

Food availability, cost disparity and improvement in relation to accessibility and remoteness in Queensland

ith the New Year come those grand statements of good intent — to eat less and live longer. But resolving to eat less is a luxury reserved for affluent people. This New Year, most of the world’s population will still be seeking to increase their food supply. This is not a matter irrelevant to Australia: Harrison and colleagues (page 9) remind us that not all Australians have an abundant, affordable and continuous supply of food. 1 In their article, they report on a series of surveys — the Healthy Food Access Basket (HFAB) surveys — of selected food stores in Queensland. The surveys showed that, to meet their families’ basic food needs, Australian residents in very remote areas paid an average of about 30% ($114) more each fortnight than people living in cities. The price disparity was greater for basic, healthy food items than for “unhealthy” items such as takeaway food, soft drinks and tobacco. Moreover, at the time of the surveys, fewer of the basic healthy foods were available in remote stores than in city stores. Of particular concern were the higher increases in food prices over time in very remote areas — for example, between 2001 and 2004, the cost of the HFAB in very remote areas increased by 18% ($77.00), which was greater than the rise in the Consumer Price Index. Remote Australia is home to many Indigenous Australians. They are doubly disadvantaged, paying more for food and other essential goods, and having the lowest incomes of any population group. A detailed study of costs and incomes in a remote Indigenous community in South Australia found that basic living costs consumed up to 85% of family incomes, with food accounting for 35% of the total. 2 In contrast, Australians in general spend less than 20% of the family income on food. 3

This study investigates the impact of economic inflation on food security and accessibility through the development of an econometric modeling approach. As inflation rates rise, the purchasing power of consumers diminishes, leading to increased food prices and potentially exacerbating food insecurity. This research aims to quantify the relationship between inflation and food security indicators, such as availability, access, utilization, and stability of food supplies. By employing time-series data and econometric techniques, the model captures the dynamic interactions between inflation rates, food prices, and socioeconomic factors affecting food security. The model incorporates key variables, including consumer price index (CPI), food inflation, income levels, and unemployment rates, to analyze their collective impact on food security across different demographics. The findings indicate that rising inflation significantly correlates with higher food prices, disproportionately affecting low-income households and vulnerable populations. This relationship highlights the necessity of understanding inflation's broader implications on food accessibility, especially in regions where food security is already a pressing issue. Future research directions are proposed, focusing on policy interventions aimed at stabilizing food prices and enhancing food security. Potential strategies include price controls, subsidies for staple foods, and targeted social safety nets for low-income households. Additionally, the study suggests further examination of supply chain factors contributing to food price volatility, such as transportation costs and global market dynamics, which can exacerbate inflation's effects on food security. This research contributes to the literature on food security by providing empirical evidence of inflation's impact on food accessibility and identifying critical areas for policy intervention. By addressing the complex interplay between inflation and food security, stakeholders, including policymakers and food industry leaders, can develop informed strategies to mitigate adverse effects and promote food security in inflationary environments.

The word “Food Security” is related with the political development between two super–powers in year 1973. It was realized that food can be used as a biggest weapon to have an upper hand in world politics. In an emergent meeting of FAO at Rome the origin of the word food security came into existence. At this critical juncture FAO defined food security as no one should go hungry to the bed irrespective of the male or female and children and finally it is the duty of the humanity also to solve the problem. Later on in the year 2001 Food Security was being defined by various scholars of the World and they related it not only with basic food items but with non-basic food items (luxurious and protective food items) which created the situation of confusion with the basic definition and lastly it is observed that there is no difference between food security and food self sufficiency as well as with basic food items and nonbasic food items. All the protective food items as nutritive food items are now being included in the meaning and concept of food security. The Word Food Security is defined as to ensure that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food they need.

Policies and programs to improve global nutrition increasingly aim to improve overall diet quality through systemic change in the food environment, often focusing on the availability and price of diverse food items. Almost all of the world’s governments conduct nationally representative surveys of retail establishments every month and publish a consumer price index (CPI) to guide economic policy, but use of these data to improve food markets and nutrition has been limited. This study describes all of the publicly available monthly CPI data by food group, region and income level for every country of the world in 2019 and 2020. A total of 170 governments currently report their overall food CPI, of which 58 also report more disaggregated indexes for different types of foods, and 49 report price levels for at least some individual food items. To address gaps in coverage we compared these CPI data with prices from international agencies’ Early Warning Systems (EWS) designed to help target agricultural assistance and food aid, which covered a total of 78 countries in 2019 and 2020. The EWS data include many lower-income countries that do not post their CPI data publicly, but generally report fewer items and more often omit the diverse, perishable foods that would be needed to improve nutrition and health. To monitor food systems it will be necessary for national governments and international agencies to pursue more transparent and standardized price and index reporting, improve data collection of diverse foods and food groups, and to make food price data more timely and accessible.

The study of alcohol abuse is relatively new in Brazil. Government estimates suggest that 11.2% of the Brazilian population is alcohol dependent. Problems associated with alcohol dependence include domestic violence, increased risk of traffic accidents, poor self-esteem and weak academic performance. A factor known to correlate with alcohol abuse in 12-17 year olds is to have the money necessary to purchase alcoholic beverages. No data is available, however, on the price of alcoholic beverages. The objective of the present study was to provide data on price and to compare the price of alcoholic beverages to basic food items in the Brazilian diet. We also had interest in studying a population in the northeast region of Brazil. This region is the poorest in Brazil, has the highest percentage of alcohol dependency and is seldom the focus of research on dependency. We report that the prices of many alcoholic beverages are less than the price of basic food items. Prices of alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and spirits were compared to the prices of select food items as represented in the Food Pyramid. Food items were selected from the categories of Grain, Dairy, Fruit, Meat and Vegetable. Data was gathered from 32 supermarkets in 8 cities in the northeast state of Paraiba. The price of alcohol is generally less expensive than most basic food group items, especially brands of cachaca (a spirit distilled from sugar cane) and beer. Data on price should be considered in any alcohol dependency program in Brazil.

Introduction The cost of food is a key influence on diet. The majority of diet cost studies match intake data from population-based surveys to a single source of food supply prices such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Our aim was to examine the nutritional significance of using food supply data to price dietary intakes in Canada. Methods We examined food groups and nutrients in dietary intakes captured by the CPI. For prices, we used 2015 Canadian CPI average monthly item prices. For dietary intakes, we used reported intakes from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Nutrition, 1st 24-hour recall (n = 20,487). i) 2015 CPI item prices ($/g) were matched to the 156 food items from the 2015 CCHS-Nutrition as full, partial, or non-match; ii) CPI capture (full or partial match) per total intake (g), without water, was calculated for each respondent; iii) descriptive statistics and quantile regression (α = 0.05) were used to compare intakes of Canadian Nutrient File food groups and nutrients by quantile of CPI capture. Results The CPI captured on average 74% of total dietary intake (g) without water. A greater proportion of protein and fat intake was captured by the CPI as compared to carbohydrate, sodium, fibre, and sugar intake. Intakes of beef, poultry, sausages, pork, and breakfast foods had among the best match; snack foods, nuts, veal, and alcoholic beverages had among the worst. Individuals in the poorest CPI capture quantile consumed the greatest fibre (g), carbohydrates (g), total sugar (g), fat (g), protein (g), and energy (kcal) as compared to those with best CPI capture. Conclusions The poorest quantile of CPI capture reflects individuals with high intakes of nutrients of concern including fat, carbohydrates, and sugar; potential bias in estimating fibre and protein intake was also detected. Researchers and decision makers should attend to differential misclassification bias and opportunities for tailored datasets to price dietary intakes. Key messages Given the proliferation of diet cost studies using food supply prices, this novel study highlights the importance of understanding the biases in using food supply data to price dietary intakes. Nutrition researchers and decision makers can use these findings to strengthen food supply price data to support the monitoring of diet costs in relation to diet quality and health outcomes.

Inflation has been rising in Egypt since 2007, and reached record levels in 2017. It was more pronounced in rural Egypt and likely hurt the poor proportionately more, since rising food prices were a major factor behind higher prices over this period. Moreover, rising prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), do not accurately measure changes in the cost of living. When inflation is high, people resort to substitution to hedge themselves against a declining standard of living. Regardless of price changes, habit formation and taste changes can also render the fixed basket of the CPI less representative over time. To accurately monitor changes in the cost of attaining a given utility level, I constructed True Cost of Living Indices (TCLI) and used them to examine the regional and income disparities in cost of living changes, and the extent of the bias in the CPI. Results confirmed that cost of living increases were higher in rural regions, and that there were far larger regional disparities in cost of living increases over time using the TCLI. The bias in the CPI was quite substantial, ranging from underestimating the change in cost of living by 1.86 percentage points, to overestimating it by 1.05 percentage points, depending on region. Finally, I found strong evidence that households at the bottom of the expenditure distribution fared much worse. Depending on region, cost of living increases were 2.8 to 4.1 percentage points higher per year for the poorest urban households than for the richest, during the period under study.

Short-term Temporal Stability in Observed Retail Food Characteristics

The most difficult thing to understand may be income tax, this paper explores the concept of value added tax (VAT) with respect to the most controversial treatment of basic food items. This paper does not pretend to cover everything about VAT, but some specifics that addresses the imperatives which are; Nigerian Value Added Tax system and its position on basic food items, constitution and taxing powers, VAT and Sales Tax, Legal framework VAT Act 2007 (as amended), VAT revenue sharing formula in Nigeria, VAT Rate in Nigeria, taxable person and Registration for VAT, VAT and its exceptions, food and basic food items, major controversies on basic food items, rendering of account, determination of chargeable value added tax, offences and penalties. Methodology used in arriving at the conclusion was content analysis, which employs the review of relevant books and articles on the subject of VAT, reader would learn basic concepts in VAT and fully understand those factors determine basic food items and how these factors do influences VAT returns.

BackgroundAnimal source foods, especially fish is the most commonly consumed and an important source of macro and micronutrients in the diet of the urban low-income residents. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the food environment in Bangladesh but little is known about how food access and food prices (affordability) have affected the purchase and consumption of fish. The objective of the study was to understand the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban food environment with a specific focus on fish consumption.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 586 homogeneous adults (288 females and 298 males) from separate households from five informal settlements in Dhaka city, Bangladesh during October-November 2020. Data were collected on: (1) food access and affordably; and (2) food purchase and fish consumption. The associations between food access, price, food purchase, and fish consumption were evaluated using path analysis.ResultsThe majority of respondents reported that food access was more difficult, food prices increased, and food purchase decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-COVID (84–89% of respondents). Fish and meat were more difficult to access, more expensive and purchased less compared to other foods (74–91% of respondents). Compared to pre-COVID period, households consumed less fish during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reported compromised the variety and quality of fish. In the path analysis, food access was associated with food purchase (b = 0.33, p < 0.001). Food purchase was associated with quantity, variety, and quality of fish consumed. Food price was inversely associated with the quality of fish consumed (b = −0.27, p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the food environment, particularly food access, price (affordability), purchase, and consumption, especially of fish. Limited food access negatively affected the quantity, variety and quality of fish consumed. An increase in food prices directly affected the quality of fish consumed. Policy actions are essential to ensure equal access to nutritious foods, such as fish. These policies need to focus on diversity and quality along with preventing increases in food prices during emergencies to mitigate future threats to the nutrition and health of the urban low-income residents.

Although malnutrition rates have been on the decline in Uganda over the past two decades, they remain high. Challenges to achieving nutritional improvements result, in part, from high staple foods prices, which raise the cost of the food basket and increase the risk of food and nutrition insecurity, especially for poor households who are net buyers of staple foods. Nearly two-thirds of Ugandan households are net buyers of staples, a pattern that highlights the potential importance of food prices as a key driver of food insecurity. During 2007-2008 the country experienced particularly sharp increases in the prices of staple foods. This paper examines how price changes influenced the cost of obtaining a nutritionally-adequate diet in Uganda. Diet costs are measured across five representative locations over the period 2000 to 2011. A linear programming model and observed monthly food prices are used to compute the lowest-cost diets in five major markets for an adult male and adult female aged 19-50. The diet costs are computed under two scenarios: (i) subject to a range of nutrient-specific constraints (a basic diet), and (ii) with allowance for palatability constraints (a constrained diet). To compare food costs over time, prices are deflated using the monthly consumer price index\ (CPI). Food prices are converted to prices per 100 gram portions, so as to maintain consistency with units of nutrient composition for given food items. The diet cost is compared to the Ugandan poverty line over time. The real cost of obtaining a nutritionally-adequate diet with palatability constraints grew at a rate of three to nine percent per year per annum over the period 2000 to 2011. Diet costs (with palatability constraints) have exceeded the poverty line for most years since 2000, with the gap widening in the period 2007-2008. Results highlight the importance of food prices to overall nutrition, and document spatial heterogeneity in diet costs in Uganda. Findings underscore the importance of developing and supporting interventions that raise the purchasing power of the poor and increase nutrition education and outreach aimed at cost-effectively achieving dietary diversity. These results are limited by the fact that the researchers did not have data for vegetables, sweet potatoes, and sorghum (all commonly-consumed staples) as well as fats, oils, sugar and animal roducts. Key words : diets, food prices, linear programming, malnutrition, markets, poverty,staples, Uganda

In this empirical study, we show that the shape of the distribution of relative prices of basic food and drink items has been extraordinarily robust, from ancient Egypt to modern Chile, whether there be peace and economic stability, war, revolution, depression or hyperinflation. The width of the distribution of log prices does not deviate significantly from a specific value, which would appear to be universal. This property of relative prices has not changed over the past three thousand years, wherever there have been food markets, despite great differences in culture, institutions, and the particular food and drink items consumed.

Availability and Pricing of Infant Snack Foods in Low-Income Communities Across Rhode Island

The current global health crisis has disrupted the whole world creating inter-related challenges of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. Food systems all over the world are under huge stress. The supply chains have been disrupted, consumers are facing problems of accessing even basic food items and paying higher prices for some foods. Sri Lanka took early actions to limit the COVID-19 imposing curfew from time to time for nearly over two months. The majority of people were under home hostage. Schools and universities were closed. Those who are working in various professions stopped reporting to offices physically and started working from home. However, similar to many other countries, Sri Lanka wanted agriculture safely running as an essential business in the country to continue the food supply for markets and consumers. Though freedom was fully granted for the farmers to engage in their agricultural production activities irrespective of lockdown condition imposed in the country, farmers started to face various other problems for receiving agricultural inputs, fulfilling harvesting activities and postharvest preparations, transporting harvests to markets and even finding the right market for the products. Labour shortage mainly due to movement restrictions, social distancing rules, and illness started to impact producers, processors, traders, and others in supply chains. Farmers lost their regular markets and worried about harvesting their current crop and planting for the next season. Export bans and import restrictions created problems of reaching people the needed food items and paying unnecessarily for certain food items (e.g. turmeric powder). At the same time, loss of income and remittances limited people’s purchasing ability. People who carried out small businesses earned daily wages and served in contract basis jobs in certain firms and small-scale entrepreneurs were in more economical crisis and facing serious problems of securing their families with sustainable food supply and consumption.