Representations on Food Security in the Speeches of a Council of School Feeding

This study aimed to investigate the representations on food security of the members of a School Feeding Board in a city located in the western region of the State of Santa Catarina. The concept of Food Security consists in the fulfillment of the right of all to regular and permanent access to high-quality food, in sufficient quantity, without compromising the access to other essential needs, based on health promoting food practices that respect cultural diversity and which are environmentally, culturally, economically and socially sustainable. The National School Feeding Program is one of the most important strategies adopted by the Federal Government to improve food security conditions of students. The School Feeding Boards are flexible structures for the management of this public policy by means of social control. This is a cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach which adopted the theoretical and methodological framework of content analysis and of social representations theory. All the members of the School Feeding Board (n=14) were interviewed. The answers were grouped into categories, and the most cited ones were: hygiene (n=12), nutritional quality (n=8), acceptability (n=4) and regular access (n=3). The categories sustainability and right to food were not mentioned by the interviewees. The board's configuration suggested little representation. The results indicate the need for qualification of the boards in order to construct a committed social participation and an expanded understanding about food security, so as to contribute to the exercise of effective social control, in tune with the school feeding policy. Adapted from the source document.