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Food

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Food is a necessity for life and is also an important component in a culture’s or people’s identity; it is also regarded by the United Nations as a human right. Hence, apart from few and rare contexts of natural scarcity, inadequate food supply raises immediate concerns that an injustice is taking place. That food is essential for life needs no elaboration. Food provides the nutrients necessary to live, and its indispensability is what gives it significance in culture, religion, and politics. In addition, three out of four people in the developing world depend upon agriculture (food, fisheries, forestry) for their livelihoods.

Because food ranks among the most basic of human needs, food has been recognized as a fundamental human right and is recognized as such by all countries in some way or another. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The World Food Programme was established in 1961, and in 1966 states that were...

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Prakash, A. (2011). Food. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_705

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_705

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9159-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9160-5

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