What does 'food literacy' mean?

The PHAA A Future for Food includes a call to action “to ensure basic food literacy and skills education is available in all schools in Australia, as well as being available via community based education initiatives” p2 (Public Health Association of Australia 2009). However there is no shared understanding of the components of food literacy nor its relationship to healthy eating despite this term gaining popularity. A three round Delphi study was conducted with food experts and stakeholders from all Australian states and territories to identify a scope of meaning for food literacy and its components. Forty-three individuals were interviewed from education, nutrition, welfare, gastronomy, agriculture and food industry in round one. Participants worked in policy, research, practice and advocacy. From these interviews, eighty possible components of food literacy were identified and presented to the whole group via an online survey in round two. Consensus was reached on only six components (response rate 79.1%). Following the round three online survey, consensus on one further item was reached (response rate 70.6%). While it is clear that food literacy is contextual, the lack of clarity regarding its core components may be of interest to those planning and funding initiatives which support the development of food literacy to enable consumers to make healthy food choices