Food safety: aim and evaluation

Abstract

Summary. The purpose of the article is to provide the essential analysis of the term “food security” and to form a system of food security indicators, measuring all its components. Methodology of research. Food security must be seen as a multilevel system with clearly structured objectives with hierarchy of levels. Target method made it possible to determine main objective of food security – long, healthy and active life of an individual. Domestic method for determining the main indicators of food security contains indicators of availability, stability and presence of food. Findings. Due to the increasing economic importance of human capital and health capital we consider that it is necessary to acknowledge the strategic objective of food security of Ukraine. Its State must ensure unimpeded economic accesses to food for a healthy and life-long activity. The analysis of food security indicators on the level of international organizations identified four integrated unit to measure it: the availability of food; economic and physical access to food; unimpeded access to food for a long period of time; use of food. The system of food security indicators should clearly reflects the state of all its blocks: presence, access, stability and use of food. Practical value. Based on this, we consider that it is necessary to expand the existing methodology for assessing food security by including food use indicators: balanced nutrition, average life span, infant mortality and mortality from chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD).