Technologies at the Crossroads of Food Security and Migration

Abstract

One of the arguments that paved the way for the development of the food industry was to enhance the food security situation, which created a social legitimation for their development. The current global food system is constructed on the principles of productivity, efficacy, and profitability, and overlooks other essential features, such as social justice, sustainability, and sovereignty. This structure of food provisioning has led to the prevalence of diet-related health problems alongside food insecurity, especially for the low-income and disadvantaged strata of the society. The altered global geopolitics and the social stratification, especially in a period characterized by strong migration flows, will most likely be translated in an uneven development of food technology reflecting the already existent divide between macro geographic areas, and thus will reinforce much of the already existing inequalities instead of eliminating it. This chapter critically analyzes the promised role of future advancement in food technology and food digitalization in promoting food and nutrition security. It highlights the link between food security and migration and will open the terrain for discussing the role of food-related technology in improving the food-related life of immigrants using as a case study the Syrian forced migration to Germany.