For 25 years, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (within the United Nations International Bill of Human Rights) has recognized adequate food as a human right. While undernourishment declined 4.3% from 2001 to 2019 as a percentage of the population, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is now rising again. Between 2019 and 2020, the prevalence of undernourishment increased from 8.4% to around 9.9% (FAO 2021).
Historically, food access issues have involved mainly marginalized people. But the projected impact of climate change on the entire packaged food system means many people who are not part of that group will also be facing food access challenges at least intermittently.
The ability to grow food is being compromised by drought, wildfires, floods, and colder and warmer regional spikes resulting from climate change. Moving up the supply chain, relocation of food processing and packaging facilities is increasingly necessary when crops commonly grown near existing facilities cannot adapt to the changing climate. In addition, disasters such as tornadoes that destroy food processing and packaging facilities hinder food access. The consolidation of packaging and food manufacturing has only exacerbated this situation: Global food distribution demands infrastructure that can both produce and deliver food safely.
Fortunately, effective disaster management can help manage food access risk, along with an expanded array of solutions including food sovereignty, a larger degree of equity among different population groups, and social justice reform (Rosenberg and Cohen 2018). But these food access solutions all require safe packaged food made possible by innovative packaging science.