Diet Quality and the Elusive Pursuit of SDG Target 2.1: Lessons from Argentina

Abstract

This chapter explores a Latin American paradox: there are countries like Argentina or Brazil where enough food is being produced to feed 3.5 and 2.5 times their population yet hunger and food insecurity are on the rise. It does so by tracking the production, distribution, access to a diet of quality in Argentina and the measures used to track progress. The chapter is developed in five parts: a) a description of long-term political, economic, and cultural processes and paradoxes that frame the advancement of food insecurity in Argentina; b) a critique of the main agro-industrial and food policies and their failure to articulate a sound and stable food environment thus moving the country further away from SDG Target 2.1; c) features of a healthy diet that includes vitamins, minerals, and measures of health with consideration of critical life stages; d) an assessment of how the weaknesses and poor validity and reliability of prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) and Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) compels a transition toward measuring diet quality instead, and; e) recommendations in four levels: politics, policies, access to a diet of quality, and measurements that better capture food security. One of the main conclusions is that changes within the existing system will not work and an overall change of system is long due.