South Africa (SA) is a middle-income country,
typified by contrasting living conditions ranging
from wealthy suburbs to poorer, underdeveloped
rural areas (Steyn et al, 2006). Owing to limited
resources and rampant poverty, these areas
often portray a scenario more descriptive of a
less developed country. Even with an adequate
national food supply, as is the case in SA
(Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs,
2002), poverty may manifest in a lack of food
security at household level (Koch, 2011).
According to the 1996 World Food Summit, food
security exists ‘when all people at all times have
access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to
maintain a healthy and active life’ (WHO, 2012).
Within this context, the concepts of food availability
(in sufficient quantities on a consistent basis);
food access (sufficiency of resources to
acquire suitable foods for a nutritious diet); and
food use (proper use based on application of
basic nutrition and care, adequate water and
sanitation), are applicable (WHO, 2012).
At household level, food security is generally
perceived as ‘access by all household members
to sufficient and nutritious food that is safe to eat
as a prerequisite for sufficient dietary intake and
meeting of food preferences for an active and
healthy life’ (FIVIMS, 2004). This entails the
household’s availability of, and access to, food
based on household production, availability from
the market and other community sources, as
influenced by the availability of household income
(Pelletier et al, 2001:704). The utilisation
or consumption of food relates to individual food
security, based on the availability of food and
the household’s access to food, but it is also
dependent on the distribution of food within the
household. Food acquisition and allocation behaviour
within the household are involved
(Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009).