Determining Food Stability to Achieve Food Security

Juan García-Díez, Carla Gonçalves, Luca Grispoldi, Beniamino Cenci-Goga and Cristina Saraiva
Additional contact information
Juan García-Díez: Veterinary and Animal Research Centre (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Carla Gonçalves: CIAFEL—Research Center for Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
Luca Grispoldi: Medicina Veterinaria, Laboratorio di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Università degli Studi di Perugia, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Beniamino Cenci-Goga: Medicina Veterinaria, Laboratorio di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Università degli Studi di Perugia, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Cristina Saraiva: Veterinary and Animal Research Centre (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-13

Abstract: Food security, as part as public health protection, constitutes one of the main objectives for countries aiming to ensure the health of all their citizens. However, food security is compromised worldwide by conflict, political instability, or economic crises, both in developed and developing countries. Conversely, because of the importance of agriculture to the economies of rural areas both in developed and developing countries, this sector can contribute to improving food stability, as well as to furthering food security. Thus, livestock and traditional meat products represent a key factor in ensuring food availability. Overall, biosecurity measures improve animal welfare by decreasing the occurrence of diseases that compromise the stability by causing fluctuations in the availability of meat and animal-derived food products such as milk, eggs, or traditional fermented products. As a consequence, an absence of biosecurity measures affects food security (in its quantitative definition, as described above) as well as the productive, sanitary, and environmental sustainability of the rural environment. Products of animal origin support local trade and the regional economy, while contributing to the availability of foods without great external dependence. The manufacture of foods of animal origin aims to create products that are durable and that maintain food availability for long periods of time, even during seasons with scarce resources. Thus, dry-cured or fermented meat products play an important role in food availability. Food security also refers to food access under healthy economic conditions; therefore, knowledge of the main tools that guarantee the safety of these kinds of food products is essential to achieving food stability and further food security.

Keywords: food safety; food security; livestock; biosecurity; food stability; fermented products (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7222/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7222/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7222-:d:583958

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().