Integrating Food and Nutrition Security in a Middle-Income , Globalized , Food-Exporting Nation : Thailand ’ s Food Policy Challenge
caloric availability does not equate to optimal nutrition , particularly where the globalized food trade makes energy-dense processed foods cheaper than fresh healthy foods ( Pinstrup-Andersen , 2009 ). UN agencies are increasingly making a distinction between food and nutrition security , with calls for access to sufficient calories to be complemented by sufficient incomes to purchase health-promoting diets .
This distinction between food and nutrition security can be particularly apparent in major food exporting countries where food production surpluses may ensure food security overall , but high-quality , high-value foods are often exported . This can leave domestic populations food secure but with less diverse , lower-quality diets , threatening nutrition security . As well , greater exposure to the global trade in food is itself a threat to population health . Globalized food chains have a comparative advantage in supplying processed energy-dense foods high in sugar , salt , and oil ( Chopra , Galbraith , & Darnton-Hill , 2002 ; Hawkes , 2008 ; Popkin , 2006 ). The increased consumption of processed energy-dense foods is part of a nutrition transition , which has been connected with a global increase in the number of people overweight and obese . Those countries most exposed to the global trade in food are particularly at risk . Integral to globalization of the trade in food is the rapid expansion of bilateral- , multilateral- , and regional-free trade agreements . Agreements opened up markets to food imports and foreign investment in food industries
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( Hawkes , 2005 ). As well , market liberalization , particularly in developing countries , allowed the rapid expansion of supermarkets from the 1990s , improved distribution networks , and increased consumer exposure to globalized food ( Kearney , 2010 ).
Thailand is an example of a food exporting , globally connected country . Food production has exceeded food needs in Thailand since 1995 ( Food and Agriculture Organisation , 2013 ), allowing Thailand to expand its food export sector . In the past two decades , the Thai food system has transformed from export of a single food product — unprocessed rice — to become a diverse sector which produces , processes , and exports a large variety of food products . Thailand is now intimately connected to the global food system , and the Thai government has actively supported an increase in both supply of and demand for Thai food products on a global scale . In part , its success as a food exporter has contributed to a prolonged period of economic growth , industrialization , urbanization , and social change , which has transformed the lives of the Thai people . Thailand has also led South-east Asia in tackling undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies through comprehensive poverty alleviation and nutrition promotion policies . In 1990 , over 40 % of the Thai population was undernourished ; this proportion is now only 7 % ( Food and Agriculture Organisation , 2012 ). Yet , Thailand is now facing an epidemic of obesity and related metabolic diseases which follow non-traditional diets .