All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar by:

Professor Danielle Gallegos, Queensland University of Technology.

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Abstract

High income countries are often described as being food secure and yet sub-populations are still unable to secure sufficient amounts of food necessary to lead a healthy life. Household and community food insecurity is perceived to be an individual issue. Food literacy has emerged as a convenient way of packaging knowledge and skills that individuals need in order to ensure a diet of sufficient quality and quantity. A focus on such strategies place the responsibility for healthy eating on the individual, further marginalising disadvantaged groups and failing to acknowledge the profound impact of social and environmental determinants on food security, and the well-established impacts these have on the food supply. This paper will explore hidden hunger in the Australian context and the complex nexus between food literacy and food security along a continuum of disadvantage. It will highlight the potential benefits and limitations of the incorporation of food literacy approaches to address food insecurity at community and household levels..

About Professor Gallegos

Danielle Gallegos is a social nutritionist and Professor at Queensland University of Technology where she is the discipline leader for nutrition and dietetics and the Director for International Engagement and Recruitment. She currently coordinates Dietetic Honours students. She is a Fellow of the Dietitians Association of Australia and has worked in all areas of nutrition and dietetics including acute care, foodservice, private practice and for the last 15 years in public health nutrition. She teaches public and community nutrition and undertakes research related to the nexus between nutrition and social justice. Her special areas of interest are developing nutrition and dietetics as a profession in Vietnam, food security, food literacy and supporting breastfeeding through the use of innovative technologies. She is currently supervising 10 PhD students, three of whom are from Vietnam.

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