Food Reference Budgets as a Potential Policy Tool to Address Food Insecurity: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Study in 26 European Countries

Elena Carrillo-Álvarez, Tess Penne, Hilde Boeckx, Bérénice Storms and Tim Goedemé
Additional contact information
Elena Carrillo-Álvarez: Blanquerna School of Health Sciences—Universitat Ramon Llull-Global Research on Wellbeing—GRoW Research group, Padilla, 08025 Barcelona, Spain
Tess Penne: Research Foundation—Flanders, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy—University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Hilde Boeckx: Thomas More Kempen, 2440 Malle, Belgium
Bérénice Storms: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy—University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: The aim of this article is to present the development of cross-country comparable food reference budgets in 26 European countries, and to discuss their usefulness as an addition to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for tackling food insecurity in low-income groups. Reference budgets are illustrative priced baskets containing the minimum goods and services necessary for well-described types of families to have an adequate social participation. This study was conducted starting from national FBDG, which were translated into monthly food baskets. Next, these baskets were validated in terms of their acceptability and feasibility through focus group discussions, and finally they were priced. Along the paper, we show how that food reference budgets hold interesting contributions to the promotion of healthy eating and prevention of food insecurity in low-income contexts in at least four ways: (1) they show how a healthy diet can be achieved with limited economic resources, (2) they bring closer to the citizen a detailed example of how to put FBDG recommendations into practice, (3) they ensure that food security is achieved in an integral way, by comprising the biological but also psychological and social functions of food, and (4) providing routes for further (comparative) research into food insecurity.

Keywords: reference budgets; food insecurity; cost of a healthy diet; Food-based dietary guidelines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2018:i:1:p:32-:d:192822

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