The term “Food Security” (SA) appears, for the first time, shortly after the
end of the 1st. World War, when it was realized that one country could dominate another if it had control over its food supply. It was only in 1974, during the first World Conference on Food and Nutrition Security, promoted by FAO, that the idea that SA was directly linked to agricultural production emerged. This even strengthened the chemical industry's speech in defense of the Green Revolution. They stated that the scourge of hunger and malnutrition in the world would disappear with a significant increase in agricultural production, which would be ensured with the massive use of chemical inputs (fertilizers and pesticides). World production increased even in the seventies, but the evils of malnutrition and hunger did not disappear. It should be noted that, in addition to availability, it is necessary to take into account the ability to access food.
Since the Declaration of Universal Human Rights in 1948, the right to adequate food has been recognized as necessary to guarantee a satisfactory standard of living. This statement means that the State has the obligation to guarantee these rights to all citizens, adequately assist the most vulnerable and ensure that, in the long term, everyone is able to feed themselves by their own means.
In 1996, in Rome, the first World Food Summit took place, with the aim of eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2015. Realizing the difficulty in achieving the established goal, in 2002 a new meeting took place between the Summit and five other countries that, although they recognized the growth of urban poverty, sought, maintaining the correlation between hunger and poverty, to emphasize the fight against rural poverty by increasing agricultural production and productivity.
The National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (CONSEA) was established in Brazil in 2003, which would serve as an instrument of articulation between the government and civil society in proposing guidelines for actions in the area of food and nutrition. Due to its consultative and advisory nature, the Council is not, and cannot be, a manager or executor of programs, projects, policies or systems.
For CONSEA, food and nutritional security (SAN) consists of realizing everyone's right to regular and permanent access to quality food, in sufficient quantity, without compromising access to other essential needs, based on health-promoting dietary practices, which respect cultural diversity and are environmentally, culturally, economically and socially sustainable. Always remembering that SAN is guaranteed by food sovereignty, which gives countries the primacy of their decisions on food production and consumption.
Thus, on September 15, 2006, the President of the Republic sanctions law number 11,346 decreed by the National Congress which, in accordance with article 1, establishes the definitions, principles, guidelines, objectives and composition of the National Food Security System and Nutritional – SISAN, through which the public authorities, with the participation of organized civil society, will formulate and implement policies, plans, programs and actions with a view to ensuring the human right to adequate food.
In the legal framework referring to the Unified Health System – SUS, the issue of SAN is also present. Article 3 of Law No. 8,080/90 defines that food constitutes one of the determining and conditioning factors of the population's health, whose levels express “the social and economic organization of the country”. In Article 6, the specific attributions of the SUS are established as “nutritional surveillance and dietary guidance” and “the control of consumer goods that, directly or indirectly, are related to health, including all stages and processes, from production to consumption".