Supply chain improvements could help lower the food insecurity rate and reduce food waste while boosting profits for retailers ..read more

This trend may surprise you, given the attention the public, policymakers, politicians and the media paid to food insecurity at the height of the pandemic ..read more

Tackling food insecurity in Canada needs a more systemic, structural approach that moves beyond relying on reactive, short-term solutions like food banks ..read more

SpeedKingz/Shutterstock The government has created a new ministerial taskforce for its child poverty strategy, led by Work and Pensions secretary Liz Kendall and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. It is urgently needed: 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty. The government has already committed to making sure free breakfast clubs are available in all primary schools in England. We know that having a good breakfast at school can help improve child behaviour and readiness to learn, and helps children achieve more at school. The introduction of breakfast clubs for all primary ..read more

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. households have at least one pet. More than ever before, companion animals are a part of life – particularly in cities, where the majority of Americans live. Cities offer access to many resources, but often it’s not distributed evenly. Some scholars describe parts of U.S. cities with few or no grocery stores as food deserts. Others have identified zones they call transit deserts, where reliable and convenient public transit is scarce or nonexistent. While the “desert” framing is controversial, there is little disagreement that access to goods and services in many U.S ..read more

Have you noticed the line ups for the food banks in your city? (Or have you had to join one?) They are getting longer in a way we’ve never seen before. According to the stats, the number of people using food banks has doubled since last year and one in 10 people now rely on food banks in Toronto. Nationwide, the numbers using food banks have jumped by 32 percent from last year and 78 per cent since 2019. And there is no one type of person who relies on food banks: for example, many in line have full-time jobs. In other words, we are in the middle of a major food insecurity crisis. And as we ..read more

Food banks can operate on a large scale that requires expensive equipment and skilled management. Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images Most food banks, homeless shelters and other social services nonprofits constantly face hard decisions about how to use their limited funds. Should they spend as much as possible on meeting the immediate needs of people who need help? How much of their budget is appropriate to spend on new equipment, skilled managers and everything else required for an organization to thrive and endure? To help nonprofits tackle this quanda ..read more

Baby-Spider/Shutterstock The emptying of supermarket shelves during the COVID pandemic demonstrated the chaos that disruption to the UK’s food supply can provoke. Could this type of disruption have a different cause in the future? And what might the impact on society be? These are the questions we sought to answer in our new study, which involved surveying 58 leading UK food experts spanning academia, policy, charitable organisations and business. Our findings indicate that food shortages stemming from extreme weather events could potentially lead to civil unrest in the UK within 50 years. Sho ..read more

Food insecurity can impact both a mother’s ability or decision to breastfeed, and also the ability to purchase baby formula. (Shutterstock) The Canadian government issued a one-time grocery rebate in July, targeted at low-income Canadians. While the rebate provided some relief to people struggling with soaring inflation, it is far from enough to address the depth of poverty and intensity of food insecurity faced by the lowest income Canadians. During the most vulnerable time of life, mothers and infants living on welfare are experiencing food insecurity, which can have lifelong impacts. Govern ..read more

Troyan/Shutterstock The number of people using food banks in the UK has increased from 26,000 in 2008-09 to more than 100 times that in 2023. Nearly one in five British households experienced moderate to severe food insecurity in September 2022. In the financial year to April 2023, Trussell Trust, the largest (but not the only) network of food banks in the UK, distributed emergency food parcels to nearly three million people. Food banks provide free, pre-prepared parcels of food to those most in need. They have provided a great deal of support for low-income families, especially during the cos ..read more