Venezuelan Food System in Crisis

Venezuela, a South American country, cannot be included within the perspective of food values depicted for South America by Mitch Kanter and Heloisa Guarita in an article titled “Food Values in South America,” which appeared in the June issue of Food Technology. Perhaps it was not studied by the FoodMinds Global Expert Bench.

The country suffers a political and economic catastrophe that strikes food security, food industries, consumers, and food values. Shortfalls in food production and imports produced shortages of basic foods of more than 50%. With an unstable and deficient food supply (limited offer of brands and fresh products), purchasing decisions cannot be driven by health, cost, taste, and convenience. Consumers are overwhelmed by hyperinflation (24,552%) and scarcity.

The government applies weekly rationing systems (biometric registration of fingerprints/assignment of a shopping day by the last number of the ID), generating long lines in front of supermarkets/food outlets, and created the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) for a selective house-by-house distribution/sale of price-regulated basic products. There is strict governmental, military, and political control over food production, distribution, and marketing (all the links of the chain), and importation. Insufficient access to foreign currency (exchange control), price controls, expropriations, legal/personal insecurity, and rigid regulations have led U.S. multinational, and national firms to reduce or shut down operations. 

Eight million Venezuelans eat two or less meals a day. Eighty percent of households are food insecure. Last year, almost six out of 10 Venezuelans lost approximately 11 kg of weight. Acute child malnutrition (moderate and severe) has reached 16.2%. The dietary pattern is of alarming monotony and poor nutritional quality—a far cry from dietary guidelines. As denounced to international organizations, the state has adopted regressive measures that seriously compromise the right to food, refusing to accept the severity of the situation or seek international assistance. Food values in Venezuela are severely affected, a fact that cannot be ignored.

—María S. Tapia, PhD, Professor Titular, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Central University of Venezuela