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1. Food Insecurity of Children in the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina Food Bank Service Area

   https://doi.org/10.1109/SoutheastCon45413.2021.9401880  

   Patterson, Angel; Esterline, Albert (March 2021, Food Insecurity of Children in the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina Food Bank Service Area)

   null (Ed.)

   North Carolina is labeled as the 10th hungriest state in America, with almost 1 in 5 children in North Carolina facing hunger regularly. Based on these numbers alone, childhood hunger is an important issue that needs to be addressed. This paper focuses on the thirty-four counties serviced by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Each county is mapped out, showing the percentage of children receiving free or reduced meals. These numbers are then compared to the number of Weekend Power Packs, Kid Cafes, and School Pantry locations per county. This project illustrates the strength of visual analytics for decision making 

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2. International food trade benefits biodiversity and food security in low-income countries

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00499-7  

   Chung, Min Gon; Liu, Jianguo (May 2022, Nature Food)
3. Advancing food democracy: The potential and limits of food policy positions in local government

   https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2021.111.002  

   Berglund, Erika; Hassanein, Neva; Lachapelle, Paul; Stephens, Caroline (January 2021, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development)

   For several decades, food policy councils (FPCs) have led the effort to place food on local govern­ment policy agendas. While FPCs are making pro­gress in supporting local food systems, they also face institutional and organizational challenges. In recent years, a handful of cities and counties have endeavored to further food system reform with the establishment of full-time government staff posi­tions focused on food policy. As of spring 2020, there were 19 confirmed food policy positions housed in local governments across the United States. While there is considerable literature on FPCs, little research has been published regarding food policy staffing in local governments. Accordingly, this study uses original in-depth inter­views with 11 individuals in municipal or county food policy positions to understand the purpose and function of governmental food policy staff positions and their impact on local food systems. Our findings suggest that these positions help to coordinate and nurture local food programs and policies and have the potential to facilitate mean­ingful participation of individuals and groups in the community in food system reform. We discuss the potential benefits and challenges for governmental food policy positions to support food democracy, and provide the following recom­mendations for communities interested in estab­lishing or strengthening similar positions: (1) iden­tify and coordinate existing opportunities and assets, (2) foster and maintain leadership support, (3) root the work in community, (4) connect with other food policy professionals, and (5) develop a food system vision. 

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4. Automating Food Drop: The Power of Two Choices for Dynamic and Fair Food Allocation

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3670865.3673534  

   Mertzanidis, Marios; Psomas, Alexandros; Verma, Paritosh (July 2024, ACM)
5. Frozen food purchasing and home freezing of fresh foods: associations with household food waste

   https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-02-2024-0147  

   Xu, Lei; Li, Ran; Roe, Brian (October 2024, British Food Journal)

   PurposeFreezing extends the shelf life of food. Home freezing of fresh foods and the purchase of frozen foods have been advocated as approaches to reduce food waste in US households. This paper discusses how commonly US households apply these practices, quantifies frozen food waste and relates these practices to food waste. Design/methodology/approachWe add questions to the summer 2022 wave of the US Household Food Waste Tracking Survey. The novel survey data provide important baseline information and household behaviours, such as food waste, home freezing of fresh food and the purchase of frozen foods. We analyse the association among these behaviours from more than 1,000 US households. FindingsWe find that US household wastes about 26 g per person per week of food that was once frozen, which is about 6% of all household food waste. The finding indicates that a small portion of food waste in US households comes from frozen food. Vegetables and meats are the most commonly discarded frozen foods. Among the frozen items reported as discarded, about 30% were purchased as frozen rather than purchased fresh and then frozen at home by the consumer and about 30% more were reported as discarded from the refrigerator rather than directly from the freezer. The findings are important for informing strategies to reduce household food waste. Research limitations/implicationsWhile the data provide important baseline information and correlate the use of freezing with lower waste levels, more work is needed to understand if interventions encouraging frozen food purchase or home freezing would reduce household food waste. Originality/valueWe provide unique, detailed information about the quantity of frozen food waste in US households and the relationships between consumer food waste and the practices of frozen food purchasing and home freezing. 

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