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From hunger to sterile palatability: ‘thickening’ or ‘diluting’ the Human Right to Adequate Food in Brazil?

ABSTRACT

In the contemporary scenario, the triad ‘food-health-merchandise’ gets ‘thick’ and ‘dilutes’ due to the rearrangements of global economic crises and their local expressions in capitalist political-economic-social dynamics. Reproducing itself in its different faces: that of scarcity – hunger, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies; and the problems arising from overconsumption of highly industrialized foods – overweight, obesity and chronic non-communicable diseases. In Brazil, food as a social right is in dispute, like all other rights, due to the global economic crisis and its expression at the local level. This essay aims to offer a reflection on the contours that the Human Right to Adequate Food (HRAF) has been presenting in Brazil in recent history. For this purpose, it was decided to offer a critical analysis on these outlines. The article is structured in three parts: the first highlights the development of the theme from the global and local food and nutritional security agenda; the second explains the path of the most recent historical construction on the national scene and the current challenges through the dismantling scenario social rights; and the third raises some questions for raising awareness about the positions and actions taken by the social agents involved.

KEYWORDS
Food and nutrition security; Hunger; Public policy; Human rights; Diet

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