Food and Nutrition Security: A Consumer Perspective

Abstract

Having access to nutritious food will have a positive impact on people’s nutritional status only when these nutritious products are actually bought, transformed into meals, and eaten. Food has multiple functions for the consumer: it is at one and the same time a source of pleasure, a platform for socializing, a tool for strengthening family life, and an avenue for personal growth. People’s dietary intake is the result of a complex range of decisions, and all these decisions have an impact on dietary intake and consequently nutritional status. One of the most important environments in which consumers make decisions is the supermarket. Both the food industry and retailers have in recent years adapted the shopping environment so as to encourage the selection of healthier products. The ability of consumers to make nutritionally sound choices is related to the level of their own nutritional knowledge. Investigations into nutritional knowledge have revealed considerable differences, and these can be linked both to a range of demographic factors and to distinctions between nations. The biggest bottleneck when it comes to turning a supply of nutritious food into a nutritious diet is motivation, or the lack of it. In addition, there is a deeply ingrained conviction that health and pleasure do not go hand in hand, and that food-based indulgence is by necessity unhealthy.