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Valerie Tarasuk - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Relationship Between Food Banks and Food Insecurity: Insights from Canada
VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2019Co-Authors: Valerie Tarasuk, Andrée-anne Fafard St-germain, Rachel LoopstraAbstract:Food Banks have become the first line of response to problems of hunger and Food insecurity in affluent nations. Although originating in the USA, Food Banks are now well established in Canada, Australia, and some Nordic countries, and they have rapidly expanded in the UK and other parts of Europe in the past two decades. Defined by the mobilization of Food donations and volunteer labor within communities to provide Food to those in need, Food Banks are undeniably a response to Food insecurity, but their relevance to this problem is rarely assessed. We drew on data from the 2008 Canadian Household Panel Survey Pilot to assess the relationship between Food bank use and household Food insecurity over the prior 12 months and examine the interrelation between Food-insecure households’ use of other resource augmentation strategies and their use of Food Banks. We found that most Food-insecure households delayed bill payments and sought financial help from friends and family, but only 21.1% used Food Banks. Food bank users appeared to be more desperate: They had substantially lower incomes than Food-insecure households who did not use Food Banks and were more likely to seek help from relatives and friends and other community agencies. Our findings challenge the current emphasis on Food charity as a response to household Food insecurity. Measures are needed to address the underlying causes of household Food insecurity.
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The Relationship between Food Banks and Household Food Insecurity among Low-Income
2017Co-Authors: Rachel Loopstra, Valerie TarasukAbstract:Etant donne l'absence de politiques publiques precises face au probleme de l'insecurite alimentaire des menages au Canada, les banques alimentaires restent la solution la plus courante, malgre les questions qui se posent au sujet de leur efficacite. En effet, parmi 371 familles a faible revenu de Toronto que nous avons interviewees dans le cadre de cette etude, 75 % avaient vecu de l'insecurite alimentaire, mais seulement 23 % avaient eu recours a une banque alimentaire ; et, pour la plupart des utilisateurs de banque alimentaire, l'insecurite alimentaire etait un probleme chronique grave. Parmi les raisons qui font que les familles vivant de l'insecurite alimentaire n'ont pas recours a une banque alimentaire, notons une certaine reticence a demander la charite, mais aussi un acces difficile a ces banques pour diverses raisons. Ces resultats remettent en question le role que les gouvernements federal, provinciaux et territoriaux semblent donner aux organismes caritatifs comme moyens de reduire l'insecurite alimentaire, et soulignent la necessite de politiques publiques claires en cette matiere. Mots cles : insecurite alimentaire des menages, faim, banques alimentaires, faible revenu In the absence of targeted public policy to address household Food insecurity in Canada, Food Banks remain the dominant response, despite questions about their effectiveness. Interviews with 371 low-income Toronto families revealed that 75 percent had experienced some Food insecurity, but only 23 percent had used a Food bank; for most Food bank users, Food insecurity was a severe and chronic problem. Food-insecure families' reasons for not using Food Banks indicated resistance and, in some instances, access barriers. These results draw into question the apparent reliance of federal and provincial/territorial governments on Food charity to alleviate Food insecurity and highlight the need for a public policy response.
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Food Bank Usage Is a Poor Indicator of Food Insecurity: Insights from Canada
Social Policy and Society, 2015Co-Authors: Rachel Loopstra, Valerie TarasukAbstract:This article reflects on the insights afforded by the regular measurement and monitoring of household Food insecurity in Canada juxtaposed against information on Food bank usage in the population. We show that the number and characteristics of people using Food Banks suggest that this population is a non-representative subset of the Food insecure population. We also highlight how the number of people using Food Banks is insensitive to the level of household Food insecurity in the population. Who goes to Food Banks is a function of the nature of Food bank operations and the severity of Food insecurity. Representative data on household Food insecurity should be regularly collected and utilised to make policy recommendations for interventions to address the problem of insecure Food access.
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A survey of Food bank operations in five Canadian cities
BMC public health, 2014Co-Authors: Valerie Tarasuk, Naomi Dachner, Anne-marie Hamelin, Aleck Ostry, Patricia L. Williams, Elietha Bosckei, Blake Poland, Kim D. RaineAbstract:Food Banks have emerged in response to growing Food insecurity among low-income groups in many affluent nations, but their ability to manage this problem is questionable. In Canada, in the absence of public programs and policy interventions, Food Banks are the only source of immediate assistance for households struggling to meet Food needs, but there are many indications that this response is insufficient. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that facilitate and limit Food bank operations in five Canadian cities and appraise the potential of these initiatives to meet Food needs. An inventory of charitable Food provisioning in Halifax, Quebec City, Toronto, Edmonton, and Victoria, Canada was conducted in 2010. Of the 517 agencies that participated in a telephone survey of their operations, 340 were running grocery programs. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between program characteristics, volume of service, and indicators of strain in Food Banks’ abilities to consistently achieve the standards of assistance they had established. Extensive, well-established Food bank activities were charted in each city, with the numbers of people assisted ranging from 7,111 in Halifax to 90,141 in Toronto per month. Seventy-two percent of agencies indicated that clients needed more Food than they provided. The number of people served by any one agency in the course of a month was positively associated with the proportion of Food distributed that came from donations (beta 0.0143, SE 0.0024, p 0.0041) and the number of volunteers working in the agency (beta 0.0630, SE 0.0159, p 0.0167). Food Banks only achieved equilibrium between supply and demand when they contained demand through restrictions on client access. When access to assistance was less restricted, the odds of Food Banks running out of Food and invoking measures to ration remaining supplies and restrict access rose significantly. Despite their extensive history, Food Banks in Canada remain dependent on donations and volunteers, with available resources quickly exhausted in the face of agencies’ efforts to more fully meet clients’ needs. Food Banks have limited capacity to respond to the needs of those who seek assistance.
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Food Banks, welfare, and Food insecurity in Canada
British Food Journal, 2014Co-Authors: Valerie Tarasuk, Naomi Dachner, Rachel LoopstraAbstract:Purpose – Similar to the recent emergence of Food Banks in other affluent nations, the genesis and ultimate entrenchment of Food Banks in Canada has been tightly intertwined with the dismantling of the welfare state. Through an examination of Canadian data, the authors elucidate the implications of entrenching voluntary, extra-governmental, charitable Food assistance programs as an adjunct to publicly funded social assistance programs. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Publicly available Food bank reports, population health survey data, and the results of a study of low-income families in Toronto are reviewed to examine the Food security status of social assistance recipients and their use of Food Banks. Findings – In 2012, 70 percent of households in Canada who were reliant on social assistance were Food insecure. Social assistance recipients comprise at least half of Food bank clientele and have done so for as long as this information has been tracked, but the assista...
Hannah Lambiemumford - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the growth of Food Banks in britain and what they mean for social policy
Critical Social Policy, 2019Co-Authors: Hannah LambiemumfordAbstract:Recent UK social policy has been dominated by welfare reform and austerity. This article draws on empirical research to argue that the rise and prominence of Food Banks is the embodiment of a wider political–economic trajectory of social policy change which has intensified significantly since 2010 and involved reinterpretations of the causes of and responses to poverty. It highlights the potential of Food Banks as a lens through which to interrogate the consequences of these policy shifts in relation to: the importance of structural determinants; the inadequacy of relying on ad hoc privatised caring initiatives; and the increasing embeddedness of Food Banks in local welfare landscapes. The article concludes by arguing that Food is an important conceptual tool, which critical social policy researchers should employ more often to explore questions of justice, equality and wellbeing.
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austerity welfare reform and the rising use of Food Banks by children in england and wales
Area, 2017Co-Authors: Hannah Lambiemumford, Mark A GreenAbstract:Since 2010, UK social policy has been dominated by austerity and welfare reform. These policy platforms sit on a wider set of shifts in policy framings, in terms of both understanding the issue of poverty and the most effective solutions to it. The resulting strategies employed have had significant impacts on children and their household incomes. Within the context of the changing nature of state welfare and the drive for more privatised (non-state) provision, this paper focuses on the effects of this on assistance to children in particular, employing charitable Food Banks as a case study. Empirical data from the UK's largest Food bank organisation (the Trussell Trust Foodbank Network) are explored to chart the rise of this provision as an example of the increasingly important role charitable organisations are playing in caring for children in the face of a reduced welfare state. The results show that both in mean and absolute terms, provision of Food parcels to children by charitable FoodBanks has grown considerably since the impacts of austerity, welfare reform and rising costs of living kicked in (2012/13). The results indicate that FoodBanks are playing a bigger role in the provision of care to children generally in this context, but particularly where childhood deprivation is high. This paper furthers geographical discussions about the changing nature of care for those in or at risk of poverty, focusing on the increased vulnerability of children that has resulted from recent social policy shifts. Food Banks form a particularly high-profile example of the rising prominence of charitable care in the context of an increasingly reduced welfare state. By discussing some of the key challenges of this provision, the paper also facilitates critical thinking about the issues that the contemporary shift away from universal social security and public care services might raise.
Rachel Loopstra - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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working age adults using Food Banks in england have significantly poorer health and higher rates of mental health conditions than adults in the general population a cross sectional quantitative study
Health & Social Care in The Community, 2020Co-Authors: Sin Loh, Annemarie Knight, Rachel LoopstraAbstract:Food bank use has risen rapidly in the UK since 2010. The negative health impacts of Food insecurity are well-documented, but there is a lack of quantitative research exploring the health of people using Food Banks, who are most often severely Food insecure. To address this gap, this study compares health outcomes between working-age adults using Food Banks and those in the general population in England, investigating whether adults using Food Banks are disproportionately affected by poor health, even after accounting for socioeconomic differences. Data from a survey of 598 adults using Trussell Trust Food Banks in 2016-2017 were merged with data from the Health Survey for England (HSE) from 2016. Outcome variables of interest were: self-rated health, life-limiting health conditions (disability) and self-reported metabolic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and mental health conditions. Logistic regression models were used to examine the odds of adults using Food Banks having health conditions, disability and poor self-rated health compared to the general population. The prevalence rates of poor self-rated health, disability, mental health disorders and musculoskeletal conditions were significantly higher among adults using Food Banks than the general population (p < .05 for all outcomes). These associations remained after accounting for gender, age, marital status, employment and education. This comparative study highlights the many health disadvantages among adults using Food bank compared to the general population. The higher risk of poor self-rated health, disability and mental health conditions was not fully explained by measures of low socioeconomic status. Possible explanations for these findings include: first, that poor health may increase vulnerability to Food insecurity, and, in turn, use of Food Banks; second, that experiences of Food insecurity and Food bank use may cause declines in health; and third, that Food bank use and poor health may be joint outcomes arising from the last decade of austerity in the UK.
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The Relationship Between Food Banks and Food Insecurity: Insights from Canada
VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2019Co-Authors: Valerie Tarasuk, Andrée-anne Fafard St-germain, Rachel LoopstraAbstract:Food Banks have become the first line of response to problems of hunger and Food insecurity in affluent nations. Although originating in the USA, Food Banks are now well established in Canada, Australia, and some Nordic countries, and they have rapidly expanded in the UK and other parts of Europe in the past two decades. Defined by the mobilization of Food donations and volunteer labor within communities to provide Food to those in need, Food Banks are undeniably a response to Food insecurity, but their relevance to this problem is rarely assessed. We drew on data from the 2008 Canadian Household Panel Survey Pilot to assess the relationship between Food bank use and household Food insecurity over the prior 12 months and examine the interrelation between Food-insecure households’ use of other resource augmentation strategies and their use of Food Banks. We found that most Food-insecure households delayed bill payments and sought financial help from friends and family, but only 21.1% used Food Banks. Food bank users appeared to be more desperate: They had substantially lower incomes than Food-insecure households who did not use Food Banks and were more likely to seek help from relatives and friends and other community agencies. Our findings challenge the current emphasis on Food charity as a response to household Food insecurity. Measures are needed to address the underlying causes of household Food insecurity.
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Rising Food bank use in the UK: Sign of a new public health emergency?
Nutrition Bulletin, 2018Co-Authors: Rachel LoopstraAbstract:The provision of Food aid through Food Banks has recently expanded in the UK. By providing free bags of Food to people experiencing financial shortfalls, Food Banks aim to prevent individuals and families from going without Food. A growing body of research has sought to understand this type of provisioning, from what it indicates about social security in the UK to what it indicates about the problem of Food insecurity. Here, recent research on the characteristics of people receiving help from Food Banks is reviewed, highlighting that they serve the most financially vulnerable groups in the UK: people with disabilities, people receiving out‐of‐work benefits and lone parents. The severity and chronicity of Food insecurity observed in this population is a public health concern, as is evidence of high rates of poor mental health. Food Banks have largely gone unevaluated for how well they do at meeting the needs of people using them, but focusing on building better Food Banks may also serve to further entrench voluntary and charitable Food assistance as part of the social safety net in the UK. Given evidence that policy interventions such as pensions and income transfers reduce Food insecurity, the importance of restoring strong social safety nets for reducing the need for Food Banks and Food insecurity is discussed.
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The Relationship between Food Banks and Household Food Insecurity among Low-Income
2017Co-Authors: Rachel Loopstra, Valerie TarasukAbstract:Etant donne l'absence de politiques publiques precises face au probleme de l'insecurite alimentaire des menages au Canada, les banques alimentaires restent la solution la plus courante, malgre les questions qui se posent au sujet de leur efficacite. En effet, parmi 371 familles a faible revenu de Toronto que nous avons interviewees dans le cadre de cette etude, 75 % avaient vecu de l'insecurite alimentaire, mais seulement 23 % avaient eu recours a une banque alimentaire ; et, pour la plupart des utilisateurs de banque alimentaire, l'insecurite alimentaire etait un probleme chronique grave. Parmi les raisons qui font que les familles vivant de l'insecurite alimentaire n'ont pas recours a une banque alimentaire, notons une certaine reticence a demander la charite, mais aussi un acces difficile a ces banques pour diverses raisons. Ces resultats remettent en question le role que les gouvernements federal, provinciaux et territoriaux semblent donner aux organismes caritatifs comme moyens de reduire l'insecurite alimentaire, et soulignent la necessite de politiques publiques claires en cette matiere. Mots cles : insecurite alimentaire des menages, faim, banques alimentaires, faible revenu In the absence of targeted public policy to address household Food insecurity in Canada, Food Banks remain the dominant response, despite questions about their effectiveness. Interviews with 371 low-income Toronto families revealed that 75 percent had experienced some Food insecurity, but only 23 percent had used a Food bank; for most Food bank users, Food insecurity was a severe and chronic problem. Food-insecure families' reasons for not using Food Banks indicated resistance and, in some instances, access barriers. These results draw into question the apparent reliance of federal and provincial/territorial governments on Food charity to alleviate Food insecurity and highlight the need for a public policy response.
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Food Bank Usage Is a Poor Indicator of Food Insecurity: Insights from Canada
Social Policy and Society, 2015Co-Authors: Rachel Loopstra, Valerie TarasukAbstract:This article reflects on the insights afforded by the regular measurement and monitoring of household Food insecurity in Canada juxtaposed against information on Food bank usage in the population. We show that the number and characteristics of people using Food Banks suggest that this population is a non-representative subset of the Food insecure population. We also highlight how the number of people using Food Banks is insensitive to the level of household Food insecurity in the population. Who goes to Food Banks is a function of the nature of Food bank operations and the severity of Food insecurity. Representative data on household Food insecurity should be regularly collected and utilised to make policy recommendations for interventions to address the problem of insecure Food access.
Graham Riches - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Food Banks and Food security welfare reform human rights and social policy lessons from canada
Social Policy & Administration, 2002Co-Authors: Graham RichesAbstract:In the past twenty years Food Banks have established themselves as one of the fastest-growing charitable industries in first world societies. As institutionalized centres or clearing houses for the redistribution of donated and surplus Food they have emerged as a key frontline response to the growing problem of Food poverty and inequality. As welfare states have been restructured and cut back and basic entitlements have been denied, Food Banks have become secondary extensions of weakened social safety nets. This paper explores the growth of Food banking in Canada and analyses its role in terms of advancing the human right to Food, its effectiveness in achieving Food security and the extent to which it contributes to, and/or counters the increasing emphasis by governments on welfare reform policies informed by neo-conservative ideology. Food Banks are examined from the perspective of their origins and purposes, institutionalization, usage, Food distributed and effectiveness. The rise of Food Banks in Canada is concrete evidence both of the breakdown of the social safety net and the commodification of social assistance. As such, they undermine the state’s obligation, as ratified in international conventions, to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to Food. They enable governments to look the other way and neglect Food poverty and nutritional health and well-being. A possible future role for Food Banks in countries where they are already established lies in public education and advocacy, but their institutionalization makes this seem an unlikely course. In countries where they are in their infancy, the question of whether to support their development should be a matter of urgent public debate.
Pilar L. González-torre - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Adapting Nonprofit Resources to New Social Demands: The Food Banks in Spain
Sustainability, 2017Co-Authors: Jorge Coque, Pilar L. González-torreAbstract:Food Banks make up an increasing phenomenon of nonprofit organizations answering to new social needs related to the global socioeconomic crisis. In order to explore if they are suitably adapting to their environments in Spain, one of the countries most seriously affected by the crisis in South Europe, this work assumes a hybrid qualitative–quantitative structure composed of an exploratory case study based on semi-structured interviews followed by a survey addressed to all the Spanish Food Banks. Much of the academic literature has concerned the appropriateness of Food Banks as a delivery mechanism in the context of welfare state withdrawal. This paper takes this in a different direction by examining Spanish Food Banks from an organizational management point of view. Wary of concerns about the institutionalization of Food charity, on the one hand, and recognizing the escalating daily reliance on Food Banks, on the other, this paper seeks to address potential technical supply problems and challenges Food Banks face and open debate about the organizational networks of Food Banks more generally. The results show nonprofit entities based on a voluntary workforce who run supply chains in order to join both social and business targets. Their situation, performance, resources, mutual relationships and the links with other entities are described, paying special attention to the changes induced by the latest contextual changes. In short, Food Banks are efficiently organized and well established in their territories as a coherent social movement, although they should improve in their strategic view, coordination, resources and sources of these, to satisfy more adequately their increasingly complex demands.
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Efficiency Analysis of the European Food Banks: Some Managerial Results
VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2017Co-Authors: Pilar L. González-torre, Sebastián Lozano, Belarmino Adenso-díazAbstract:Hundreds of thousands of people in Europe are daily receiving Food, thanks to local Food Banks, run basically by volunteers who collect donations and distribute them to organizations. In this paper, data from a sample of Food Banks working in 13 European countries are analysed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), trying to learn about their profiles and find some clues about the efficiency of their operations, comparing them according to variables such as the number of volunteers and permanent staff, the tonnage of Food delivered and the number of people served. Significant inefficiencies were found in the sector as a result of high performance of some Food Banks, thus setting a high level standard of operational efficiency. Some additional results regarding Food bank sizes and performance are presented.
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How is a Food bank managed? Different profiles in Spain
Agriculture and Human Values, 2016Co-Authors: Pilar L. González-torre, Jorge CoqueAbstract:Within the current economic situation, poverty indexes in developed countries are becoming more and more alarming. This makes the role of Food Banks very relevant, and in addition contributes towards reducing the problem of Food waste. Motivated by the social importance of these non-profit organizations, this paper analyzes the impact of Food Banks on the supply chains to which they belong. Differences in the functioning of these supply chains are highlighted attending to the relations induced by the Food Banks. First, the international research background for this topic is summarized; then, the results of an empirical study in Spain are presented. Data were collected through surveys and analyzed using cluster methodology. Two different types of Food bank were identified. These are described, characterized, and compared in terms of efficacy and efficiency.