(pt.1) Family Food Security

Due to Y2K-related disruptions in the retail, shipping and processing 
industries, there may be problems with food processing and distribution 
in January 2000. There's no lack of raw food products in the country, 
but the processing, transportation, and marketing of groceries is 
vulnerable to Y2k disruptions. Each bite of your dinner travels an 
average of 1500 miles to get to your table. Most grocery stores stock 
less than a week's worth of food; without daily deliveries, their 
shelves will empty fast. The entire food processing system has only 60 
days of product in it. There is not an expected shortage of food; but 
the ability to process and deliver it to consumers may be problematic if 
there are Y2K disruptions. 

There is little or no independent, verifiable, visible assurance about 
Y2k compliance in the food processing and distributing industries. The 
United States Senate met with "significant resistance...from both 
industry trade organizations/associations as well as major corporations 
within the retail and manufacturing sides of the food industry" as it 
tried to gather evidence regarding Y2K issues in the food distribution 
system. Investigating the Impact of the Year 2000 Problem, U.S. Senate 
Report, February 1999, page 130. 

There's a lot of loose talk in the media disparaging the household 
management practice of keeping 2 or 3 months' supply of food on hand. 
When I hear this, I know that the commentator has never been poor and 
has probably led a relatively sheltered and comfortable life. Having 
such a life is not a bad thing of course, but it should be tempered with 
humility. Typically, the only flexible item in a poor family's budget is 
the grocery money, and if there is an emergency, that is where they go 
for money for the doctor, car repairs, or whatever. If the family has 
extra food, they can do this and still put dinner on the table. If they 
have no extra food, they are out of luck and out of food. The less 
economic security a family has, the more important it is that they keep 
savings in food. 

There's other reasons to stock a full pantry. Buying large containers 
usually results in a lower price per unit. Every time you go to the 
store for just 1 thing, you often end up with "just 10 things", so one 
secret of saving money is staying out of grocery stores as much as 
possible. It is easier to do this if you have a well-stocked pantry.You 
also save quite time as you don't have to go to the grocery store so 
often, you have what you need at home, ready to go. A well stocked 
pantry is a good idea what-ever happens in January 2000. 

Do the people disparaging this household management practice as hoarding 
think about these issues? Not likely, that's why they're preaching 
against frugality, prudence and food security. Grocers and food 
processing corporations don't like such thrifty habits. They make extra 
money when we go to the store 7 days a week, without planning menus or 
making a list, and buying whatever "looks good." 

Is there a connection between the full court press from politicians and 
news media against this traditional and frugal practice -- and food 
industry advertising revenues and political contributions? I don't know 
the answer to this, but would it surprise any of us if it turns out to 
be true? Unfortunately, this isn't a question that will be asked by 
today's mass media. 

Mergers over the past decade have brought most of the wholesale food 
processing and distribution systems under the control of a half dozen 
major transnational corporations. Today our food distribution resembles 
an hour glass -- a lot of producers, a diverse retail system, 
constricted in the middle by a handful of big players. Due to 
competitive demands to minimize expenses, production capabilities have 
been streamlined. There are fewer processing facilities. A lot of small 
operators have gone out of business or merged with one of the big 
players. Since there are fewer food factories, the processed food must 
travel longer distances to reach the customers, and at each stage of 
those transportation systems there are Y2K vulnerabilities. 

This year prices of pork to producers plunged to all-time lows because 
the over-supply of pigs coming to market could not be handled by the 
processing industry. Across the wheat belt, grain may be piled on the 
ground because of lack of storage facilities, but the corporations who 
control the processing of the grain may not be able to process enough to 
meet increased demand. Have corporate consolidations and mergers in the 
food processing industry placed our food supply at risk for the sake of 
extra profits for stockholders? From the way food industry executives 
are publicly discouraging stocking up for Y2k, it would appear this is 
so. But we're not supposed to notice that the Emperor is naked. 

This has implications also for food safety, as well as Y2K. With fewer, 
but larger, food processing plants, and contamination in one plant can 
cause an international recall of tainted foods. Such recalls are rapidly 
increasing. In a similar way, Y2K disruptions in even one plant can 
cause trans-continental problems. 

Since the existing players seem to have worked their way into a box, 
increased demand for processed food due to Y2K concerns may mean 
opportunities for direct marketing relationships between farmers and 
consumers. Corporate concerns about the possibility of competition may 
be the real reason behind industry statements discouraging people from 
buying extra food. 

Historically and in the present context, food storage is a prudent 
response to valid concerns about the brittleness and lack of resiliency 
of the food production and distribution systems. Putting food by for 
storage when it is plentiful is not hoarding, it is a traditional 
household management practice. When it comes to food, we've always 
hedged our bets and limited our risks in the face of uncertainty, 
especially when hard times were on the horizon. Increasing your food 
purchases sends important market signals to the food processing industry 
to move more products into the stores. Buying stimulates the food 
production and distribution supply line and create opportunities for 
small businesses (such as farmers and local processors) to compete on a 
more equitable basis with the big players.. As basic products move 
through the system from farmers to processors to retailers to consumers, 
everybody benefits by the increased economic activity. If you hear 
people in the food industry discouraging people from buying food, their 
motives are more mixed than they would like for us to believe. 

Buying directly from farmers and local processors and urban agriculture 
greatly contribute to community food security. Throughout all of China's 
tumultuous history this century, one social policy has remained constant 
under both Nationalist and Communist governments: cities should get 
their food from the vicinity of the city. Chinese governments discourage 
shipping foods long distances (although some of it happens, of course). 
Shanghai, for example, is self-sufficient in vegetables, and gets most 
the rest of its food from within a 100 kilometer radius circle around 
the city. Calcutta produces 1/3 of the fish and vegetables consumed 
within the city. Around the world, many of the urban poor report that 
they would starve if it wasn't for food that they were able to grow 
within the city. 

People who are very hungry may refuse to eat food that is unfamiliar to 
them. Calories count for nothing if we don't recognize them as food. So 
if you can avoid it, don't try a new diet in the midst of a stressful 
emergency. The best advice is to store what you eat and eat what you 
store. 

One: Determine how much of what foods your family eats in a month. Do 
this by totaling up your grocery lists, or saving your receipts, or 
examining your menus. 

Two: Decide how well those products will store over a period of months. 
If you are using a lot of foods that need refrigeration, think about 
substituting alternatives that don't require refrigeration such as 
canned or dried, pickled or salted. 

Three: Make your list, check it twice, buy and store the food. It's not 
rocket science, it's home economics. You are unlikely to need a special 
food consultant. 

Store a variety of foods. You need dried whole foods like beans and 
grains and you need canned goods like tuna and chili and soups. If you 
expect that fuel for cooking will be a big issue, store more canned 
goods (which require less cooking), and less dried beans and rice (which 
require more cooking), or build a solar oven. Cream soups are 
particularly useful; they make excellent instant sauces that can be 
combined with pasta and rice and are a key ingredient in many 
casseroles. 

Store some comfort and specialty foods. Hard candies, chocolate, coffee, 
herbal teas, favorite snacks and meals, all these are important not only 
for nutrition, but also for morale. 

Stock your spice rack liberally, and don't forget condiments, baking 
powder and soda, cooking oil or shortening, bouillon, and yeast. Beans, 
rice, flour, and etc. can be a bland diet without spices to liven things 
up a bit. 
