ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ability of the now global food system to ensure ‘food security,’ by contemplating the various threats and vulnerabilities inherent to that system. Although many definitions of food security exist, most tend to emphasize that food security exists when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food necessary to lead active and healthy lives.2 By analyzing the issues of malnutrition, food safety, and global environmental change as they relate to the global food network, the chapter considers how processes of globalization are reshaping food systems in ways that have significant impacts on human security. It is argued that while a globalized food network provides a variety of new opportunities for improving health and well-being by connecting humans around the world through one of their most basic needs, a globalized food network also contains significant risks to individual and social health and safety, personal and national economies, and local, regional, and global environments. Unless we strive to fully understand the risks and opportunities posed by such a network we cannot use it to its full potential and run the risk of missing opportunities to address pressing global problems.
