Abstract

LIMA, João PM; ROSA, Bárbara Santa  and  SILVESTRE, Margarida. FOOD CHARITY AND THE HUMAN RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD: ETHICAL CONCERNS. Acta Port Nutr [online]. 2022, n.29, pp.70-75.  Epub Dec 12, 2022. ISSN 2183-5985.  https://doi.org/10.21011/apn.2022.2912.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “all individuals have the right to health and well-being, with unconditional access to food, housing and medical care”. There are situations where individuals do not have physical and economic access to safe and nutritious food, finding themselves in a situation of food insecurity. Difficulties in accessing food arising from situations of socioeconomic need are actually one of the problems where intervention in the area of social action is urgent.

Despite responding to the guarantee of a basic human right, food charity causes an ethical dilemma, opposing the ethical principles that motivate its implementation, such as solidarity and cooperation, social responsibility and health, human dignity and human rights, beneficence and equality, justice and equity; and those who may be harmed by it, such as autonomy and individual responsibility, respect for human vulnerability and personal integrity, human dignity and human rights and non-discrimination and non-stigmatization of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.

Such a situation should contribute to an accurate reflection and an improvement of the procedures associated with it, as a way of guaranteeing the ultimate goal of safeguarding the well-being of the individuals involved.

Keywords : Adequate food; Food aid; Ethics.

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