Food Justice

Food justice is the right of all people to grow, sell, and consume healthy food. Another definition, from a non-profit organization called Well House, is that food justice seeks to ensure the benefits and risks where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are equally shared. Just Food, a food justice organization that increases awareness and action around food and farm issues, describes healthy food as “fresh, nutritious, affordable, culturally-appropriate, and grown locally with care for the well-being of the land, workers, and animals.” In addition, the disproportionate impacts of diet-related illness on low-income communities of color and the simultaneous food sovereignty global peasant movement La Via Campesina gave increasing attention to food justice. Although the term Food Justice was not yet invented, the movement for public knowledge of their food's production originated after Upton Sinclair published The Jungle in 1906, bringing widespread attention to unhygienic practices in the meat industry. The green revolution, from the 1930s to the late 1960s, exacerbated the environmental impacts of food production due to the advent of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. However, supporters of the green revolution maintain that it allowed for much greater crop yields and agricultural efficiency, and thus allowed for population growth, improved health outcomes due to more adequate nutrition, and lower food prices. The shift from local to industrial food production also gave people more time to pursue other tasks or professions, contributing to economic growth.
In 1969, the Black Panther Party established the Free Breakfast for Children program in Oakland, California, illustrating how the ability to secure healthy food intersected with race and class. The program provided free breakfast to 20,000 schoolchildren in predominantly low income Black communities whose families struggled to afford food, which had affected their academic performance and contributed to the cycle of poverty.
In the 1990s, the 5 cents for Fairness campaign was enacted by the United Farm Workers to encourage improved conditions for farm workers with a just 5 cent price increase on produce. Conceptualization of food justice as a specific movement emerged in the 1990s from the broader anti-racist and environmental justice movements.
Global Food Justice
Food justice is an issue in other regions of the world as well. Developing countries may grow food for export, yet struggle to feed their populations. Additionally, food sources may be contaminated by outside military forces, such as in the cases of Agent Orange in Vietnam, in which large quantities of an herbicide were sprayed on villages and farmlands with intergenerational adverse health effects, and radioactive fallout from nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands, in which nuclear bomb tests conducted by the United States military contaminated local food such as coconut with radiation, leading to food insecurity and health issues. Global food system activists such as Vandana Shiva have worked to improve food access and sustainable agriculture in the developing world. Global instances of food injustice generally reflect wider power relations and the North-South Divide.
Food Deserts
A food desert is a region or community with limited access to healthy and nutritious food; this deficiency can be due to a variety of factors, including cost and distance to grocery stores. A large portion of the food justice movement is concerned with how food deserts are distributed and the correlations between lack of access to food and both race and income.
A 2010 review of food deserts literature found both socioeconomic implications and racial disparities connected to food disparity in areas with lower access to food. In low income communities, high crime rates lead to a cycle of theft and increased food prices; as a result of this, citizens who are unable to travel outside of their immediate neighborhoods sacrifice quality for convenience.The intersectionality of race and socioeconomic status is important to consider in examining cases of food injustices. The United States Census Bureau has consistently reported Black and Hispanic Americans as having lower median household incomes than White Americans. Among communities in Detroit, Michigan, impoverished black communities are farther from the closest supermarkets than analogous impoverished white communities, and on average, have less supermarkets within a three mile radius than impoverished white communities.
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Structural Causes of Food Deserts
One proposed cause of food deserts is structurally faulty legislation that disproportionately affects people of color and socioeconomic minorities. Components of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal contained racial implications that affect living patterns today. The Fair Housing Administration's 1939 manual stated that “if a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes.” Because of this policy, some home loan benefits were unavailable to minorities. Additionally, urban zoning policies of the 1950s may have contributed to segregated living patterns.
One effect of restrictive zoning policies is the pattern coined “white flight”. As middle-income white Americans began moving to government subsidized suburbs, grocery stores and food retailers followed. As a result, many urban markets, which were more expensive to maintain than their suburban counterparts, were abandoned.
Effects on Low-income Communities and Communities of Color
The US Department of Agriculture estimates that the number of people living in low-income communities with low access to supermarkets is 23.5 million, around 8 percent of the US population. and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A US study conducted between 1999 and 2004 found that obesity rates among African Americans and Hispanics were 15 and 6.8 percent higher, respectively, than that of white Americans.
Diet quality tends to improve with increases in income. Data from the US Department of Agriculture indicate that low income households spend less money on food than households in other income brackets; the USDA data also show that the foods most commonly purchased by low-income households are often those containing fat, oils, sugar, potatoes, and refined grains.
Academic Consequences
Food deserts may affect academic achievement in affected regions. The National Food Service Management Institute states that poor nutrition leads to students’ increased susceptibility to illness, and that undernourishment results in decreased cognitive functioning. Additionally, there is evidence that high blood lead levels can negatively affect academic performance and social behavior in children. Diets with high calcium and iron intake help reduce the absorption and toxicity of lead for exposed children.
Economic Impact
Employment opportunities associated with food businesses are often absent in food desert communities; for example, retail jobs associated with supermarkets may be absent. and act as anchors for nearby businesses.
Case Study: South Los Angeles
A case study by the Community Health Council on food deserts in South Los Angeles suggests developing small corner stores in especially deprived regions. The council notes that because access to full sized markets is often limited in low-income areas, it is important to create incentives for store owners to sell healthy products and to ensure stores are able to accept SNAP and WIC benefits. The goal of this initiative is to allow people to make healthy choices without changing their shopping habits. as a key example of success of this kind of initiative.
Food Assistance Programs
Food assistance programs are important for food justice because they help struggling groups of people get the healthy food that they need to sustain and nourish their bodies. Food programs are heavily depended on by low-income people or families who are unable to afford food on their own as well as have access to healthy food options. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the federal food and nutrition assistance programs that enables families access to food, and promotes healthy eating through nutrition educational programs. FNS was established August 8, 1969 but many of the food programs existed long before this agency became its own agency. It serves about 595,000 low-income people each month, and is the only USDA nutrition program that provides food assistance for seniors. In addition to seniors who are eligible for this program, women, infants, and children currently receiving these benefits who were certified to receive help on or before February 6, 2014 are also eligible to continue to receive assistance under the program rules in effect on that date, in accordance with the Agricultural Act of 2014. Women, infants, and children who apply to participate in CSFP on or after February 7, 2014 cannot be certified to participate in the program.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
TEFAP helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans from different age groups by providing them with emergency food assistance like food banks at no cost at all.
Child Nutrition Programs
Child Nutrition Programs provide healthy, nutritious meals and snacks to American children.
Examples of Child Nutrition Programs include:
# Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP): This program provides nutritious meals and snacks to both children and adults in designated child and adult care centers.
# National School Lunch Program (NSLP): This program provides nutritionally balanced lunch to eligible and qualified children on school days. SNAP is the cornerstone of food programs and initiated the creation of various other programs. The pilot food stamp program happened during 1961-1964, and President Kennedy's called on an executive order for an expanded food distribution. Shortly after, he announced that the food stamps be purchased.
Women, Infants & Children (WIC)
Women, Infants and Children is a federally-funded health and nutrition program for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children under 5 years old. WIC provides nutritous food, nutrition and breastfeeding education, and assists families with access to relevant healtcare services. Examples of WIC include:
# (FMNP)
# Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP)
Recommendations for Food Justice Policy
National Food Policy (NFP)
NFP will be the nation's first policy surrounding the issue of food that aims to promote health of our citizens and of the environment at each link in the food chain. This can be anywhere, from the farm to the supermarket, to our schools, dinner tables, and restaurants. As mentioned earlier, expanding bodegas and small corner stores in areas with limited access to full-sized commercial markets may help disadvantaged peoples purchase healthier and higher quality foods. The principles of the certification are that "all workers have the right to safe working conditions, just treatment, and fair compensation and all farmers have the right to fair, equitable, transparent agreements and pricing." The AJP aims to encourage participation at every step in agricultural food production and sales, from food to table.
Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade deal that greatly expanded the rights of corporations over workers, consumers, food producers, and the environment. U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from the TPP. This trade deal attempted to bring 40% of the world’s economy into one trading region, and the U.S. would have been the largest partner. Trump's proposed alternative is a bilateral trade agreement that will continue to threaten small farmers. He has stated that "the climate is changing, and human activity contributes to that in some manner" but rejects that carbon dioxide "is a primary contributor to the global warming."
Environmental Justice office
Mustafa Ali, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s office on Environmental Justice, has resigned as a result of the Trump Administration’s proposal to decrease funding for programs that help poor and minority communities. The EPA Environmental Justice office is under threat to be completely dismantled.
Federal Funding
The 2018 preliminary budget proposal has been released. Trump plans to decrease EPA funding by 31 percent and eliminate a fifth of its employees. Funding for drinking water infrastructure would remain, but scientific research is under threat of being cut. Over 50 programs would be gone altogether, such as grants to help states stop air pollution, infrastructure assistance to Alaskan native villages along the Mexican border, Energy Star, and more. This means that social services addressing food security are at risk of losing funding or disappearing.
Food Policy
The Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization. The reauthorization happens every five years and includes Congressional review and reauthorization of all child nutrition programs, including SNAP, WIC, and the school lunch program. The Farm Bill will also be up for renewal during the administration.
Corporations have historically dominated federal policies in the U.S., and consumers and small growers have little voice in the process of deciding policies. Low-income people, particularly people of color, have even less power, and lack the choice in determining their own food and nutritional decisions. Black and hispanic low-income neighborhoods are often food deserts, meaning they lack grocery stores and accessible real food. According to a recent analysis by the National Academies of Sciences, 45.3% of all immigrant-headed households with children use a food assistance program. 88% of all children living with immigrant parents are U.S. citizens.<ref name="Immigration"/> This does not account for the millions of undocumented immigrants that currently do not receive SNAP or WIC benefits.<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/>

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