The Food Systems Approach: Sustainable Solutions for a Sufficient Supply of Healthy Food

4.2 Food system outcomes

We distinguish three types of food system outcomes: socio-economic, environmental, and outcomes relating to food security. Figure 3 shows the main indicators for these outcomes (see Eriksen, 2007; Ingram, 2011; UNEP, 2016 for a detailed description of the indicators shown in the figure). 

Figure 3 Food system outcomes 

The socio-economic outcomes of the food system involve things like the incomes and living conditions of farmers' families and other actors in the food system, as well as the employment and wealth that these activities generate. They also involve the social, political, and human capital generated by these activities. 

Food security is often defined in the literature as a combination of food utilization, food access, and food availability. Utilization entails the nutritional value, social value, and safety of the product; access involves food affordability, allocation, and preferences; and availability is about food production, distribution, and exchange. 

Lastly, there are the environmental outcomes of the food system – namely, its impact on natural resources and the biophysical drivers of the food system. 

Box 1: Definition of food security 

Food availability 

• Production = how much and which types of food are available through local production. 
• Distribution = how food is made available (physically moved), in what form, when, and to whom. 
• Exchange = how much of the available food is obtained through exchange mechanisms such as barter, trade, purchase, or loans. 

• Affordability = the purchasing power of households or communities relative to the price of food. 
• Allocation = the economic, social, and political mechanisms governing when, where and how food can be accessed by consumers. 
• Preference = social, religious or cultural norms and values that influence consumer demand for certain types of food. 

• Nutritional value = how much of the daily requirements of calories, vitamins, protein, and micronutrients are provided by the food people consume. 
• Social value = the social, religious and cultural functions and benefits food provides. 
• Food safety = toxic contamination introduced during producing, processing and packaging, distribution or marketing food; and food-borne diseases such as salmonella and CJD.