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Book Introduction to the US Food System

Download or read book Introduction to the US Food System written by Roni Neff and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-10-20 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A public health approach to the US food system Introduction to the US Food System: Public Health, Environment, and Equity is a comprehensive and engaging textbook that offers students an overview of today's US food system, with particular focus on the food system's interrelationships with public health, the environment, equity, and society. Using a classroom-friendly approach, the text covers the core content of the food system and provides evidence-based perspectives reflecting the tremendous breadth of issues and ideas important to understanding today's US food system. The book is rich with illustrative examples, case studies, activities, and discussion questions. The textbook is a project of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), and builds upon the Center's educational mission to examine the complex interrelationships between diet, food production, environment, and human health to advance an ecological perspective in reducing threats to the health of the public, and to promote policies that protect health, the global environment, and the ability to sustain life for future generations. Issues covered in Introduction to the US Food System include food insecurity, social justice, community and worker health concerns, food marketing, nutrition, resource depletion, and ecological degradation. Presents concepts on the foundations of the US food system, crop production, food system economics, processing and packaging, consumption and overconsumption, and the environmental impacts of food Examines the political factors that influence food and how it is produced Ideal for students and professionals in many fields, including public health, nutritional science, nursing, medicine, environment, policy, business, and social science, among others Introduction to the US Food System presents a broad view of today's US food system in all its complexity and provides opportunities for students to examine the food system's stickiest problems and think critically about solutions.

Book Food Policy in the United States

Download or read book Food Policy in the United States written by Parke Wilde and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a broad introduction to food policies in the United States. Real-world controversies and debates motivate the book's attention to economic principles, policy analysis, nutrition science and contemporary data sources. It assumes that the reader's concern is not just the economic interests of farmers, but also includes nutrition, sustainable agriculture, the environment and food security. The book's goal is to make US food policy more comprehensible to those inside and outside the agri-food sector whose interests and aspirations have been ignored. The chapters cover US agriculture, food production and the environment, international agricultural trade, food and beverage manufacturing, food retail and restaurants, food safety, dietary guidance, food labeling, advertising and federal food assistance programs for the poor. The author is an agricultural economist with many years of experience in the non-profit advocacy sector, the US Department of Agriculture and as a professor at Tufts University. The author's well-known blog on US food policy provides a forum for discussion and debate of the issues set out in the book.

Book A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System

Download or read book A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-06-17 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality, and the federal budget. From the earliest developments of agriculture, a major goal has been to attain sufficient foods that provide the energy and the nutrients needed for a healthy, active life. Over time, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption have evolved and become highly complex. The challenges of improving the food system in the 21st century will require systemic approaches that take full account of social, economic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Policy or business interventions involving a segment of the food system often have consequences beyond the original issue the intervention was meant to address. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System develops an analytical framework for assessing effects associated with the ways in which food is grown, processed, distributed, marketed, retailed, and consumed in the United States. The framework will allow users to recognize effects across the full food system, consider all domains and dimensions of effects, account for systems dynamics and complexities, and choose appropriate methods for analysis. This report provides example applications of the framework based on complex questions that are currently under debate: consumption of a healthy and safe diet, food security, animal welfare, and preserving the environment and its resources. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System describes the U.S. food system and provides a brief history of its evolution into the current system. This report identifies some of the real and potential implications of the current system in terms of its health, environmental, and socioeconomic effects along with a sense for the complexities of the system, potential metrics, and some of the data needs that are required to assess the effects. The overview of the food system and the framework described in this report will be an essential resource for decision makers, researchers, and others to examine the possible impacts of alternative policies or agricultural or food processing practices.

Book Administering and Managing the U S  Food System

Download or read book Administering and Managing the U S Food System written by A. Bryce Hoflund and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-11 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food and the systems that produce, disrupt, prepare it are central to all human life. Yet, scholarly analysis of the food systems that support human life are highly fragmented across a variety of disciplines. Public administration, with its focus on the doing of public policy, would seem to be a logical home for analysis of food systems in action. However, food is largely ignored by public administration scholars, and scholars from other disciplines can unintentionally draw up established public administration literature. The chapters in this edited volume highlight where the lenses and languages of public administration can and should be used to analyze food systems. Viewed collectively, the editors argue that the lenses and languages of public administration can and should become a common ground for scholars and practitioners to discuss food systems.

Book Concentration and Power in the Food System

Download or read book Concentration and Power in the Food System written by Philip H. Howard and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly every day brings news of another merger or acquisition involving the companies that control our food supply. Just how concentrated has this system become? At almost every key stage of the food system, four firms alone control 40% or more of the market, a level above which these companies have the power to drive up prices for consumers and reduce their rate of innovation. Researchers have identified additional problems resulting from these trends, including negative impacts on the environment, human health, and communities. This book reveals the dominant corporations, from the supermarket to the seed industry, and the extent of their control over markets. It also analyzes the strategies these firms are using to reshape society in order to further increase their power, particularly in terms of their bearing upon the more vulnerable sections of society, such as recent immigrants, ethnic minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status. Yet this study also shows that these trends are not inevitable. Opposed by numerous efforts, from microbreweries to seed saving networks, it explores how such opposition has encouraged the most powerful firms to make small but positive changes.

Book Food Systems Failure

Download or read book Food Systems Failure written by Christopher Rosin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Book Understanding Food Systems

Download or read book Understanding Food Systems written by Ruth MacDonald and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2017-05-25 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding Food Systems: Agriculture, Food Science, and Nutrition in the United States explores the complex and evolving system from which the United States gets its food. From farm, to home, and everything in-between, the authors use a scientific perspective that explains the fundamentals of agricultural production, food science, and human nutrition that will guide readers through the issues that shape our food system, including political, societal, environmental, economic, and ethical concerns. Presenting the role and impact of technology, from production to processing and safety, to cultural and consumer behavior perspectives, the book also explores the link between food systems and the history of nutrients and diet patterns, and how these influence disease occurrence. Current topics of concern and debate, including the correlations between food systems and diet-related diseases, such as obesity and diabetes are explored, as are the history and current status of food insecurity and accessibility. Throughout the text, readers are exposed to current topics that play important roles in personal food choices and how they influence components of the food system. Presents the evolution of the US food system, from historical beginnings, to current consumer and political roles and responsibilities Provides farm to fork insights on production and consumption practices in the United States Explores complex topics in call-out boxes throughout the text to help readers understand the various perspectives on controversial topics

Book Food Systems Law

Download or read book Food Systems Law written by Marne Coit and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food law is a rapidly developing area, with interest being driven at the consumer, handler and farm level. This introductory textbook provides an overview of the concepts necessary for an understanding of food law and regulations, providing the non-specialist reader with a more comprehensive understanding of food systems from production to consumption. Food Systems Law first introduces the US legal system and then moves on to explain the Federal Regulation of Food systems, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the Farm Bill, the single most important piece of legislation which impacts the way in which federal resources are used within the food industry. The following chapters provide concise explanations of key topics including food safety, food labeling, organic certification and food waste, with examples from US law and policy included. Importantly, the book also addresses key topics which overlap with food law, such as environmental, health and agricultural law. This textbook is geared towards a non-legal audience, particularly students of interdisciplinary food studies and food science who are taking food law courses, as well as those studying agricultural law, food policy and environmental law. It will also be of interest to professionals working in the food industry and those who want to learn more about how food is regulated.

Book Food Policy for Developing Countries

Download or read book Food Policy for Developing Countries written by Per Pinstrup-Andersen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-15 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite technological advances in agriculture, nearly a billion people around the world still suffer from hunger and poor nutrition while a billion are overweight or obese. This imbalance highlights the need not only to focus on food production but also to implement successful food policies. In this new textbook intended to be used with the three volumes of Case Studies in Food Policy for Developing Countries (also from Cornell), the 2001 World Food Prize laureate Per Pinstrup-Andersen and his colleague Derrill D. Watson II analyze international food policies and discuss how such policies can and must address the many complex challenges that lie ahead in view of continued poverty, globalization, climate change, food price volatility, natural resource degradation, demographic and dietary transitions, and increasing interests in local and organic food production. Food Policy for Developing Countries offers a "social entrepreneurship" approach to food policy analysis. Calling on a wide variety of disciplines including economics, nutrition, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, medicine, and geography, the authors show how all elements in the food system function together.

Book Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems

Download or read book Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems written by Mark Lawrence and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-10-18 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive text provides the latest research on key concepts, principles and practices for promoting healthy and sustainable food systems. There are increasing concerns about the impact of food systems on environmental sustainability and, in turn, the impact of environmental sustainability on the capacity of food systems to protect food and nutrition security into the future. The contributors to this book are leading researchers in the causes of and solutions to these challenges. As international experts in their fields, they provide in-depth analyses of the issues and evidence-informed recommendations for future policies and practices. Starting with an overview of ideas about health, sustainability and equity in relation to food systems, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems examines what constitutes a food system, with chapters on production, manufacturing, distribution and retail, among others. The text explores health and sustainable diets, looking at issues such as overconsumption and waste. The book ends with discussions about the politics, policy, personal behaviours and advocacy behind creating healthy and sustainable food systems. With a food systems approach to health and sustainability identified as a priority area for public health, this text introduces core knowledge for students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines including food and nutrition sciences, dietetics, public health, public policy, medicine, health science and environmental science.

Book Ensuring Safe Food

    Book Details:
  • Author : Committee to Ensure Safe Food from Production to Consumption
  • Publisher : National Academies Press
  • Release : 1998-09-02
  • ISBN : 0309593409
  • Pages : 209 pages

Download or read book Ensuring Safe Food written by Committee to Ensure Safe Food from Production to Consumption and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1998-09-02 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How safe is our food supply? Each year the media report what appears to be growing concern related to illness caused by the food consumed by Americans. These food borne illnesses are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, and food additives. Recent actions taken at the federal, state, and local levels in response to the increase in reported incidences of food borne illnesses point to the need to evaluate the food safety system in the United States. This book assesses the effectiveness of the current food safety system and provides recommendations on changes needed to ensure an effective science-based food safety system. Ensuring Safe Food discusses such important issues as: What are the primary hazards associated with the food supply? What gaps exist in the current system for ensuring a safe food supply? What effects do trends in food consumption have on food safety? What is the impact of food preparation and handling practices in the home, in food services, or in production operations on the risk of food borne illnesses? What organizational changes in responsibility or oversight could be made to increase the effectiveness of the food safety system in the United States? Current concerns associated with microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in the food supply are discussed. The book also considers how changes in technology and food processing might introduce new risks. Recommendations are made on steps for developing a coordinated, unified system for food safety. The book also highlights areas that need additional study. Ensuring Safe Food will be important for policymakers, food trade professionals, food producers, food processors, food researchers, public health professionals, and consumers.

Book Economics of the Food System

Download or read book Economics of the Food System written by David Blandford and published by . This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economics of the Food System provides a comprehensive overview of the food system, beginning with the physical and geographical context of United States agriculture. Concepts and tools of applied economics are then used to analyze the structure and economic characteristics of each component of the food system. Over the course of the text, students learn about agricultural supply, demand, and prices, market elasticities and derived demand, food processing, wholesaling, retailing and food service, and the international food market. They also study the role of transportation, the law of one price, risk management, storage, and emerging issues and challenges for the food system. Throughout the text, the focus is on how markets function to ensure that people have the food they want to eat, when and where they want to eat it. As they read, students will have constant opportunities to consider the key forces that shape the food system's ongoing evolution. With its comprehensive coverage of all aspects of food system economics and its attention to practical economic applications, Economics of the Food System is ideal for courses in agricultural economics or agribusiness

Book Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach

Download or read book Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization of the food supply has created conditions favorable for the emergence, reemergence, and spread of food-borne pathogens-compounding the challenge of anticipating, detecting, and effectively responding to food-borne threats to health. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. This figure likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, because it fails to account for the broad array of food-borne illnesses or for their wide-ranging repercussions for consumers, government, and the food industry-both domestically and internationally. A One Health approach to food safety may hold the promise of harnessing and integrating the expertise and resources from across the spectrum of multiple health domains including the human and veterinary medical and plant pathology communities with those of the wildlife and aquatic health and ecology communities. The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop on December 13 and 14, 2011 that examined issues critical to the protection of the nation's food supply. The workshop explored existing knowledge and unanswered questions on the nature and extent of food-borne threats to health. Participants discussed the globalization of the U.S. food supply and the burden of illness associated with foodborne threats to health; considered the spectrum of food-borne threats as well as illustrative case studies; reviewed existing research, policies, and practices to prevent and mitigate foodborne threats; and, identified opportunities to reduce future threats to the nation's food supply through the use of a "One Health" approach to food safety. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary covers the events of the workshop and explains the recommendations for future related workshops.

Book Cultivating Food Justice

    Book Details:
  • Author : Alison Hope Alkon
  • Publisher : MIT Press
  • Release : 2011
  • ISBN : 0262016265
  • Pages : 405 pages

Download or read book Cultivating Food Justice written by Alison Hope Alkon and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Documents how racial and social inequalities are built into our food system, and how communities are creating environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives.

Book Local Food Systems  Concepts  Impacts  and Issues

Download or read book Local Food Systems Concepts Impacts and Issues written by Steve Martinez and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Defining ¿local¿ based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers¿ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Charts and tables.

Book Food Power

    Book Details:
  • Author : Bryan L. McDonald
  • Publisher : Oxford University Press
  • Release : 2017
  • ISBN : 0190600683
  • Pages : 265 pages

Download or read book Food Power written by Bryan L. McDonald and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates during the postwar years about how food power could help the United States achieve goals such as stability, prosperity, and security were part of a larger conversation about the role of food in the security of states, communities, and individuals.0America helped build a new, postwar food system based on the steadying influence of American agricultural surpluses that helped maintain stable prices and food availability. This system averted a global-scale food crisis for almost three decades. The end of this food system in the early 1970s ushered in a much more unstable period in global food relations. 'Food power' argues that efforts to both interpret America's role in the world during the mid-twentieth century and to address contemporary food problems can be strengthened by understanding more fully the ways postwar American policymakers and experts sought to shape the politics of security and prosperity by linking people and places around the world through food.

Book Building Community Food Webs

Download or read book Building Community Food Webs written by Ken Meter and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2021-04-29 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our current food system has decimated rural communities and confined the choices of urban consumers. Even while America continues to ramp up farm production to astounding levels, net farm income is now lower than at the onset of the Great Depression, and one out of every eight Americans faces hunger. But a healthier and more equitable food system is possible. In Building Community Food Webs, Ken Meter shows how grassroots food and farming leaders across the U.S. are tackling these challenges by constructing civic networks. Overturning extractive economic structures, these inspired leaders are engaging low-income residents, farmers, and local organizations in their quest to build stronger communities. Community food webs strive to build health, wealth, capacity, and connection. Their essential element is building greater respect and mutual trust, so community members can more effectively empower themselves and address local challenges. Farmers and researchers may convene to improve farming practices collaboratively. Health clinics help clients grow food for themselves and attain better health. Food banks engage their customers to challenge the root causes of poverty. Municipalities invest large sums to protect farmland from development. Developers forge links among local businesses to strengthen economic trade. Leaders in communities marginalized by our current food system are charting a new path forward. Building Community Food Webs captures the essence of these efforts, underway in diverse places including Montana, Hawai‘i, Vermont, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Minnesota. Addressing challenges as well as opportunities, Meter offers pragmatic insights for community food leaders and other grassroots activists alike.