It is an interesting irony that in an era of cutting-edge technology and unrelenting development, food security is among the primary social problem worldwide. Of course, issues like climate change, environmental degradation, labor malpractices and other social inequities are still constant reminder that development is not always good but food security is a paramount global dilemma. Apparently, food security is not just a matter of quantity but more importantly, a matter of quality and organic food and other products figure into the food security debacle.
Food security is a complex problem reflected in the fact that it is also complicated to define. Today there are at least 200 definitions of the term defining it simultaneously as a social condition and aspiration. But among these definitions, there are fundamental elements.
In a nutshell, food security involves household food security at the basic level and a household is considered food when it has access to the food needed for a healthy life for all its members and without risk of losing such access. This already implicates numerous problematics or dimensions of the food security question. For one it suggests that in order to be food ‘secure’, food supply must not only be adequate in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality, safety and cultural acceptability. It also further suggests that access to food need to be constant sustainable.
Either way, food availability and access are critical terms in understanding and addressing food security issues but another dimension of the crisis reflected in the definition is the quality of food. Simply put, it is possible to have a high supply and corollary high purchasing power among consumers but the quality of the food is in contest. Health considerations in food production and utilization then also therefore also factors into the food security question.
It is precisely because of this dimension of food security that organic food and products figure in the issue and has also become an advocacy among food security activists. Organic foods are meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products that come from animals that are not given antibiotics or growth hormones and from plants and crops that are grown without using conventional chemical pesticides, fertilizers from synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; or any such bioengineering or ionizing radiation processes. In other words, organic food is food that is healthy for both the consumer and the environment.
Today, the growing number of organic products or organic superfoods is a part of growing consciousness not just of health-related issues but in a widening understanding that food security also refers to environmental security. The similarly growing number of organic products in Singapore and other developing economies is further indication that even animal and crop growers and producers are slowly coming to terms with the fact that they too can, if they are not so already, culprits in the global problem of food insecurity. The growing market for these organic food products and an expanding consumer base bodes well in the struggle for food security since growing patronage is almost an assurance that producers will see that environmental awareness can also be profitable in the long run.
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