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Food insecurity is an evolving nutrition issue affecting both developed and underdeveloped college campuses. The purpose of this paper is to assess food insecurity and related coping strategies among Texas Tech University students.

This was a cross-sectional online survey in Lubbock, Texas, among college students (n=173). The outcome measures, socio-demographic factors, household food insecurity access) and dietary diversity were assessed using validated tools. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software. Socio-demographic differences in food security status were examined using χ², and means testing. Risks of student food insecurity were assessed using odds ratios (ORs).

Respondents were mostly female (70 percent), non-Hispanic white (58 percent) and young adults’ (median age: 22.0 (20.0, 27.0)), with a median monthly income of $1,000 (0.0, 1,500) and spent about a fifth of their income on food. More students were food insecure (59.5 percent) compared to those who experienced food security (40.5 percent) (p<0.001). Some of the severe food insecure students (16.7 percent) reported going to bed without food (6.9 percent) in the prior 30 days. Students with monthly food budgets of ⩽ $200 were 3.2 times more likely to be food insecure (OR=3.231: CI: 1.353–7.714; p=0.010) compared to those with higher food budgets. A students’ choice of priority monthly expenses was significantly associated with food security status; however, further risk assessment of dichotomous “prioritized food” and “prioritized other expenses” was not statistically significant.

Student’s food budget of $200 was the strongest determinant of food insecurity. Individual training on money management and meal planning are recommended. University policies should recognize and develop academic support policies addressing competing expenses with food.

Over the last few decades, consumers’ concerns for healthier lifestyles and the environment have become the driving forces for forming food-buying intentions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of product attributes regarding nutrition and health benefits of products, the environmental impact of production and social responsibility of producers on consumers’ food and wine choices.

The empirical analysis is based on an online survey conducted in the USA, the UK and Germany, and incorporates a discrete choice experiment with visual shelf simulations.

Price and nutrition information are much more influential on consumers’ food choices than information about social responsibility of producers or the ecological impact of production. Product attributes emphasizing the ecological impact of production and social responsibility of food producers are specifically valued by consumers with high levels of environmental consciousness and by those concerned about goods production. Consumers who are health conscious regarding their lifestyle and diets derive high utility values from the nutritional information of the product.

The study contributes to an understanding of how to promote healthier food and wine choices and social and environmental responsibility of food and wine producers in various markets.

The study offers a comparison of product attributes concerning ecological, social, nutrition and health benefits of the product; as well the investigation of congruent interrelationships between the consumers’ values and related product attributes in three culturally distinct consumer groups.

This is the pilot study of a larger project in which fortification was evaluated in a clinical intervention trial in the Vaal Triangle of South Africa. The main purpose is to determine the suitability of stock cubes and stock powder as possible vehicles for fortification. A questionnaire was developed to determine stock cube and stock powder consumption patterns and handed out to the 802 subjects in the randomly selected sample, after testing for reliability. The results showed that 97 per cent of respondents (n=802) used stock cubes or powder daily in cooking, mainly stews, with the total consumption being 26 per cent chicken, 24 per cent beef, 15 per cent oxtail, 12 per cent mutton, 12 per cent tomato and 11 per cent vegetable. Stock cubes (79 per cent) were more popular than stock powder (21 per cent). From a consumption point of view, compared with other staple foods such as wheat flour, sugar and maize meal, stock cubes and/or stock powder are consumed on a daily basis by 97 per cent respondents and might thus be suitable vehicles for delivering micronutrients to many population groups without major changes in food production or changes in customary diets.