FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY IN ROMANIA IN THE POST-ACCESSION PERIOD

The paper makes an assessment of the food security situation in Romania, several years after the accession to the European Union. The approach focuses on certain problems regarding food security assurance at national level, as well as aspects linked to the access to food and the population's nutritional status. The methodology used is based on the SWOT analysis of the population's food and nutrition security. This started from the current approaches to the food security concept, namely supply availability, supply stability, economic access and food use. In this context, the paper presents certain vulnerabilities of food security for Romania's population; among these vulnerabilities, at the food supply availability level, we can mention the lack of self-sufficiency in certain staple foods, such as meat, fruit, sugar and fish, in which the systematic deficit is covered by imports. At the same time, the domestic agricultural production instability, mainly in the case of crop production, raises food security problems. As regards the access to food, the low incomes and the income gaps by regions and residence areas generate food insecurity for the low-income population categories, which are most often found in the rural area. At the same time, the deficient food consumption in quality terms, the high share of calories from cereals and potatoes, as well as the low animal protein intake generate nutritional risks.