What is Food Justice?

Food and NutritionSustainabilityPublic PolicyCommunity & ActivismFood Justice
Written By IMRAN KHAN

Everyday, tens of millions of Americans struggle to put food on the table for themselves and their families. Without adequate nutrition, people may have issues with their school or work life, and physical or mental health. According to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, humans have a right to regular, permanent, and unrestricted access to sufficient food which ensures a fulfilling and dignified life free of fear [1,2]. Though known as a basic human right, 47.4 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2023 [3]. What’s being done to help? Let’s talk about food justice.

Food justice is a comprehensive view of the food system as a whole that recognizes healthy food as a human right [4,5,6]. It is a movement that addresses the systemic inequalities and injustices within the food system. The structural components of every aspect of food are taken into consideration – whether it is growing, distributing, selling or educating people to opt for healthy choices. The unfortunate reality is that people around the country have unequal access to nutritious food. Food justice promotes practices that make healthy food easily accessible to everyone, no matter where they come from, how much they earn, or where they live [6,7]. Nutritious food should be a right, not a privilege. It is essential to consider this so that communities can come together and speak out against injustices that cause food insecurity. This includes food production, ownership, taxation, and distribution. Food security is defined as being achieved when all community residents have access to a diet that is culturally acceptable and nutritionally adequate through a sustainable food system that maximizes self-reliance and social justice [8].

The Drivers of Food Insecurity

In 2023, 13.5% of US households, or 18 million people, were food insecure at some point, which has risen by nearly 1% since 2022 [3]. Additionally, 17.9% of households with children faced food insecurity in 2023; this is equal to 7.2 million children in the United States [3]. There is no one cause for food insecurity. The multifaceted issue is due to a combination of historical and present day policies that are both intended and unintended. According to peer reviewed studies, food insecurity is directly related to low wages, adverse social and economic conditions, residential segregation, lack of affordable housing, and neighborhood disadvantage [9]. According to the National Institute of Health, food injustices disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations [10].

Click the image to learn more about trends in U.S. food security!

This figure composed by the US Department of Agriculture demonstrates the percentage of households that experience food insecurity based on race/ethnicity. Scholars refer to food insecurity as “a symptom of complex and multidimensional social disease.” [11] One factor referenced is the lack of accessibility to healthy foods. Residents may live in areas that do not have access to reliable transportation, travel distance to supermarkets is too large, or supermarkets simply don’t exist in adequate amounts in a proximal area. Food deserts appear more commonly in economically and socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, leading to negative impacts on dietary quality and overall health [10,12]. Although convenience stores exist in these neighborhoods, they offer lower-quality food and less healthy options. Food swamps are areas saturated with stores that sell an overwhelming amount of inexpensive, calorie-dense foods such as soda, snacks, or other foods that have excessive amounts of sugars [10]. Both food deserts and food swamps contribute to the adverse effects of food insecurity.

Outcomes of Food Insecurity

Chronic diseases make up four of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States [12]. Having an unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for contracting chronic diseases such as heart diseases, cancer, depression, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Although it may sound counter intuitive, food insecurity is actually associated with higher rates of obesity among Americans. As previously mentioned, low income communities are forced to rely on cheaper, less nutritious food options. Without proper access to healthy foods, people are forced to consume foods that are calorie dense, exorbitantly high in saturated fats, sodium, sugar, and provide minimal micronutrients [13]. Although they may be energy dense and can help fulfill calorie requirements, they lack essential nutrients which lead to health complications.

How Food Injustice Impacts Our Lives

Over the past 10 years, studies have shown that the rate at which college students experience food insecurity have risen from 20% to 50%; this is about 12% higher than the rate for the general population of the nation [14]. This arises from the fact that a higher proportion of college students face financial challenges. According to a study done in 2016, 39% of college students were below the poverty line [14]. The same study found that half of all undergraduate students were financially independent from their parents, and about ⅕ of these students have children themselves [14]. The financial burden brought upon tuition, materials needed for school, increasing costs of housing (especially in Madison, Wisconsin), and a decrease of state-funded higher education programs, leads to problems surrounding food. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a large public university, which houses over 32,000 undergraduate students. There is no clear number of how many students are food insecure; however, a study found that 7.8% of residents in Dane county are food insecure [15]. Many students around the UW-Madison campus are food insecure, which makes it difficult for them to go through day to day tasks. Fortunately, there are many student organizations around campus that offer resources that are available to students who face such problems.

Community Action


There are many student organizations dedicated to fighting food injustices on campus. Here are some resources (click the + icon to learn more).

  • Student organization providing free local produce to the UW-Madison campus. Access the fridge during Student Activity Center hours. 

    • Sunday to Thursday: 10 AM to 10 PM 

    • Friday and Saturday: 10 AM to 8 PM

    Instagram: Campusfoodshed

  • This student organization is dedicated to minimizing food waste and helps to alleviate food insecurity on campus by recovering surplus food. They offer free food at The Crossing every week. 

    • Tuesdays: 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

    • Fridays: 12 pm to 1 pm

    Instagram: frnuwmadison

  • A non-profit organization with the goal of reducing food insecurity and waste in the Madison area. Visit the mission box to pick up food for free. Look on their instagram page for updates!

    Instagram: MissionboxUW

  • Open Seat strives to provide healthy and accessible sources of food, personal-care goods, and household products to students in need. It is located on the third floor of the Student Activity Center

    • Monday: 1 pm to 5 pm

    • Tuesday: 5 pm to 8 pm

    • Friday: 1 pm to 6 pm

    Website: https://students.wisc.edu/make-a-gift/open-seat-food-pantry/

    Instagram: openseat_uw

  • Slow Food envisions to promote sustainable food production by creating a welcoming environment for the UW-Madison community, and advance food justice in the Madison area. They offer meals from locally sourced farmers and provide nutritious food at a low cost.

    Family Dinner Night: 

    • Mondays at 6:30 pm

    Cafe:

    • Wednesdays at 12 pm

    Website: https://slowfood-uw.org/

    Instagram: Slowfooduw

  • The Keep offers access to nutritious food so members of the campus communities can focus their energies on their academic and career pursuits. The Keep Food Pantry is a ministry of Luther Memorial Church.

    • Thursdays: 2:30–5:30 PM

    Website: https://www.luthermem.org/food-pantry/

  • Free frozen meals that can be reheated packaged from unserved UW dining hall food.

    At these locations, there will be designated UW Frozen Meals Program freezers. People can come in anytime within the hours of the locations and pick up frozen meals from the freezer. 

    Locations: The Crossing, Pres House, First Congregational

    The Crossing: 1127 University Ave

    • Monday to Thursday: 10 AM to 8 PM

    • Friday: 10 AM to 4 PM

    • Saturday and Sunday: Closed

    Pres House: 731 State St

    • Monday: 7 pm to 8 pm

    • Thursday: 3 pm to 5 pm

    First Congregational: 1609 University Ave

    Instagram: FrozenmealsUW

    Website: https://www.facebook.com/frozenmealsuw/

References

[1] United Nations. (2024). About the right to food and human rights | OHCHR. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-food/about-right-food-and-human-rights 

[2] UN Economic and Social Council, General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant), UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), 12 May 1999, https://www.refworld.org/legal/general/cescr/1999/en/87491

[3] Rabbitt, M. P., Hales, L. J., & Reed-Jones, M. (2025, January 8). Food security in the U.S. - key statistics & graphics. Food Security in the U.S. - Key Statistics & Graphics | Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics#:~:text=13.5%20percent%20(18.0%20million)%20of,(17.0%20million)%20in%202022.

[4] Food Insecurity: A Public Health Issue. (2016). Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 131(5), 655–657. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354916664154

[5] Murthy, V. H. (2016). Food insecurity. Public Health Reports®, 131(5), 655–657. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354916664154 

[6] Boston University. (n.d.). What is Food Justice?. What Is Food Justice? | Community Service Center. https://www.bu.edu/csc/edref-2/what-is-food-justice/ 

[7] Murray, S., Gale, F., Adams, D., & Dalton, L. (2023). A scoping review of the conceptualisations of food justice. Public Health Nutrition, 26(4), 725–737. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980023000101 

[8] Longo, P. (2016). Food Justice and sustainability: A new revolution. Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia, 8, 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aaspro.2016.02.005 

[9] Drewnowski, A. (2022). Food insecurity has economic root causes. Nature Food, 3(8), 555–556. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00577-w 

[10] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2024, July 3). Food Accessibility, insecurity and health outcomes. National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/resources/understanding-health-disparities/food-accessibility-insecurity-and-health-outcomes.html 

[11] Morales, D. X., Morales, S. A., & Beltran, T. F. (2020). Racial/ethnic disparities in household food insecurity during the covid-19 pandemic: A nationally representative study. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 8(5), 1300–1314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00892-7 

[12] Zenk, S. N., Schulz, A. J., Israel, B. A., James, S. A., Bao, S., & Wilson, M. L. (2005). Neighborhood racial composition, neighborhood poverty, and the spatial accessibility of supermarkets in Metropolitan Detroit. American Journal of Public Health, 95(4), 660–667. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2004.042150 

[13] Carvajal-Aldaz, D., Cucalon, G., & Ordonez, C. (2022). Food insecurity as a risk factor for obesity: A Review. American Journal of Public Health, 9, 660–667. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.1012734 
[14] Freudenberg, Nicholas, et al. “College Students and Snap: The New Face of Food Insecurity in the United States.” American Journal of Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6836795/.
[15] Schreiber, Eliana. “Fighting Food Insecurity.” Https://Www.nbc15.Com, 2 Aug. 2022, https://www.nbc15.com/2022/08/02/fighting-food-insecurity/.

IMRAN KHAN