Food Insecurity among Low-Income Food Handlers: A Nationwide Study in Brazilian Community Restaurants

Ingrid C. Fideles, Rita de Cassia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu, Rosemary da Rocha Fonseca Barroso, Jamacy Costa-Souza, Renata Puppin Zandonadi, António Raposo and Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho
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Ingrid C. Fideles: Department of Food Science, School of Nutrition, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40110-150, Brazil
Rita de Cassia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
Rosemary da Rocha Fonseca Barroso: Department of Food Science, School of Nutrition, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40110-150, Brazil
Jamacy Costa-Souza: Department of Food Science, School of Nutrition, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40110-150, Brazil
Renata Puppin Zandonadi: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
António Raposo: CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal
Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate food insecurity (FI) among Brazilian Community restaurant food handlers and its associated factors. This cross-sectional study was performed with a representative sample of 471 food handlers working in community restaurants (CR) from all Brazilian regions. Participants are mostly female (62.2%), ?40 years old (67.7%), with a partner (52.0%), and with up to eight years of education (54.1%). Predictors of participants’ socioeconomic status and CR geographic location are associated with the household food insecurity categories ( p < 0.05). The predictors of socioeconomic conditions are associated with mild and moderate/severe FI category. Workers with less education are twice as likely to belong to the category with the highest FI severity. Lower per capita household income increased the chances of belonging to the mild insecurity category by 86%. It more than doubled the chance to be in the category of moderate/severe insecurity. Predictors of health status, lifestyle, and work are not associated with any multinomial outcome categories. However, working in the South, Southeast, or Midwest regions of Brazilian decreased the chances of belonging to one of the FI categories, with significance only for the mild category. Variables that show an association for this population are per capita household income for the different levels of FI and the CR region for mild FI. A high prevalence of FI in this population points to the need for more studies with low-income workers to prevent FI and its health consequences.

Keywords: Brazil; community restaurants; food handlers; food insecurity; low-income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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