Abstract
This qualitative approach study seeks to understand the meanings of Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) and environmental contamination by shellfish gatherers in the municipality of Santo Amaro, Bahia. Solid and industrial waste (mainly lead) and biological waste are released in the Subaé river and in the mangrove, compromising food resources, life and health of the population. Shellfish gatherers selling their mangrove-derived products are stigmatized by people of this municipality, as well as other cities in the Recôncavo Baiano, and, as a result, do not reveal the origin of shellfish sold in the market. Silence and contamination denial are understood as ways to ensure the FNS, the naturalization of social inequality and in favor of survival. These observations portray the daily life of this poor population living amid heavy metals’ and sewage contamination.
Social stigma; Environmental pollution; Food and nutrition security