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Food Security

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Food security is when "all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life".^[1]

Why is this important?

Food security is an important social determinant of health. When a household is food secure, everyone who lives in the household always has "physical, social and economic access to food". This means they can make choices about the amount, type and nutritional value of the food they eat, and that they have access to food that was safely prepared.^[2]

Indicators

Cost of Food

Measure: Cost of Nutritious Food

The cost of healthy food refers to the amount of money an individual, family or household needs in order to purchase food that meets their dietary and nutritional needs. The nutritious food basket (NFB) is made up of the foods that an individual or household would eat as part of a healthy diet. The local cost of each item is identified to calculate the overall local cost to eat basic nutritious food.

Key Findings

When compared to families with median incomes, low-income families spend much more of their overall family budget to buy nutritious food. Since 2011, families with income from Ontario Works needed to spend between 35% to 42% of their after-tax income to buy healthy food. A family of four with income from a full-time/full-year minimum wage job spent 25% to 33% and a single parent household with two children spent between 29% and 34% of their income on healthy food. In contrast, a family of four with a median income (after-tax) only spent 11%-13% of their income on healthy food.

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Source: Needham, L. (2016, 2017, 2018). Nutritious Food Basket for WDG 2016, 2017, 2018. Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, ON: WDG Public Health

Key Findings

Since 2009, the actual cost to eat healthy food in Wellington Dufferin Guelph increased almost every year, except from 2014 to 2015 when the cost stayed the same and from 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018 when the cost went down slightly. Since this information was first collected (2009), the cost of a nutritious food basket increased by 26%.

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Source: Needham, L. (2016, 2017, 2018). Nutritious Food Basket for WDG 2016, 2017, 2018. Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, ON: WDG Public Health

Why is the Cost of Healthy Food Important?

Access to healthy food is directly connected to income. When the cost of food increases, people who are living with low income are impacted most because they are already struggling financially. When people don't have access to safe, nutritious food they may miss out on key nutrients and experience negative physical and mental health outcomes.^[3]

Limitations

The cost of a nutritious food basic does not account for unique dietary needs or cultural practices that may influence the type of food a person or family may need to purchase.

Looking for more information?

For more information about this measure please download the excel file below.

Download Full Dataset

Food Insecurity

Food insecurity refers to "inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints".^[4]

Food Insecure Households (2020)

Household food insecurity status was collected through a survey of households in Guelph and Wellington County in November/December 2020. A representative sample of 600 households in Guelph and Wellington County were surveyed by telephone.[6]

Household food insecurity status was based on a scale of 7 experiences. These experiences ranged from worrying food would run out before having money to buy more, to going hungry because there was not enough money for food. Households that had experienced 1 or more of the items in the past 30 days were considered "food insecure". Households that had experienced 5 or more of the items in the past 30 days were considered "severely food insecure".[6]

Key Findings

About 1 in 8 households in Guelph and Wellington County (12.1%) were food insecure in the past 30 days. The proportion of food insecure households was higher in Guelph when compared to Wellington County. This means that there were more households in Guelph where people worried about running out of food, quality or quantity of food was compromised, or where people are reducing how much they eat or skipping meals.

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*The past 30 days includes the 30 days prior to collection which occurred between November 17 to December 6, 2020.

**Wellington County does not include Guelph.

Source: Our Food Future, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, & Toward Common Ground. (2021). How COVID-19 impacted food access and food insecurity in Guelph and Wellington County. https://foodfuture.ca/post/how-covid-19-impacted-food-access-and-food-insecurity-guelph-and-wellington-county

Food Insecure Households (2009-11 and 2012-14)

Household food insecurity status is collected as part of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). This module consists of 18 questions that are used to determine whether a household was able to afford the food they needed within the past 12 months. Food insecure households may fall into one of three groups: marginally food insecure (where a household has limited food selection or is worried about running out of food); moderately food insecure (where a members of the household must compromise on food quality and/or quantity); or severely food insecure (where members of the household are reducing food intake or missing meals).[5]

Key Findings

The proportion of food insecure households is higher in Guelph when compared to Wellington County. This means that there are more households in Guelph where people worry about running out of food, quality or quantity of food is compromised or where people are reducing how much they eat or skipping meals. From the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 to 2012, 2013 and 2014, the proportion of food insecure households increased in Guelph from 14% to 17% and in Wellington County from 7% to 9%.

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*Wellington County does not include Guelph. Due to high sampling variability, Wellington County estimates should be interpreted with caution.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by: Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. Last updated October 2017.

Why is Food Insecurity Important?

When people live in households without enough food, they are more likely to report poor or fair health, limitations to activity, more than one chronic condition (such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and food allergies), to suffer from major depression and to lack social support.^[7]People who experience food insecurity also report feelings of embarrassment, stigma, anxiety and social exclusion.^[2]

Limitations

When comparing the proportion of food insecure households to other regions, it is important to ensure the same food insecurity measure was used. The CCHS measures household food insecurity status using a 12-month timeframe and 18 experiences.^[5] The 2020 IPSOS survey used a 30-day timeframe and 7 experiences. The data from these two surveys therefore cannot be compared.

The 2020 IPSOS survey may have also underestimated the prevalence of food insecurity. The 30-day timeframe may identify a smaller proportion of food insecure households as compared to surveys that are based on a 12-month timeframe.^[8]

Marginal food insecurity was also not measured in the 2020 IPSOS survey, which may lead to a smaller proportion of households identified as food insecure. However, the seventh experience added to the survey is one of the experiences used to identify households experiencing marginal food insecurity.^[9] Thus, food insecure households may include those households experiencing marginal food insecurity.

Looking for more information?

Please download the excel file below for more information.

Download Full Dataset

References

[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (n.d). Chapter 2. Food security: concepts and measurement. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4671e/y4671e06.htm

[2] Dietitians of Canada (2016). Prevalence, Severity and Impact of Household Food Insecurity: A Serious Public Health Issue. Background Paper. Available at: http://www.dietitians.ca/Downloads/Public/HFI-Background-DC-FINAL.aspx

[3] Holben, D. H., & American Dietetic Association. (2010). Position of the American Dietetic Association: Food insecurity in the United States. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(9), 1368–1377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2010.07.015

[4] Tarasuk, V., Mitchell, A., & Dachner, N. (2014). Household food insecurity in Canada, 2014. http://proof.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Household-Food-Insecurity-in-Canada-2014.pdf

[5] Statistics Canada. (2015). Canadian Community Health Survey - Annual Component (CCHS). http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3226

[6] Our Food Future, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, & Toward Common Ground. (2021). How COVID-19 impacted food access and food insecurity in Guelph and Wellington County. https://foodfuture.ca/post/how-covid-19-impacted-food-access-and-food-insecurity-guelph-and-wellington-county

[7] Vozoris, N. T., & Tarasuk, V. S. (2003). Household food insufficiency is associated with poorer health. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(1), 120–126. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/133.1.120

[8] Statistics Canada. (2020). Food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, May 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00039-eng.htm

[9] Government of Canada. (2020). Determining food insecurity status. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-nutrition-surveillance/health-nutrition-surveys/canadian-community-health-survey-cchs/household-food-insecurity-canada-overview/determining-food-security-status-food-nutrition-surveillance-health-canada.html