Covid crisis and the need to ensure food security and safety in the E.U

Food security is one of the main problems that humanity has faced throughout its existence, it is generally analyzed globally, although it is rather a major problem in national security, along with economic, financial or demographic security. It is defined as the ability of the state and society to ensure the availability of food for its entire population in sufficient quantity and quality to ensure an active and healthy life. On the other hand, food security, as defined by the FAO it refers to the access of people from all times to nutritious and safe foods, which should meet both their needs and food preferences in order to ensure an active and healthy life. In this paper we aim to analyze how the COVID-19 crisis has influenced food security and safety, but also to justify the need to ensure their local and regional level. The data underlying the study are part of statistics from FAO, Eurostat and the National Institute of Statistics. The indicators used were the self-sufficiency rate, for the main food categories, both for Romania and for the E.U. and share of non-regular and employed farm labor. Based on the study, conclusions were drawn regarding the risk due to of COVID-19 on food safety and security. © 2021, National Agricultural Research and Development Institute. All rights reserved.