Food and drink are basic needs. Nutritional policy and the food industry aim to guarantee access to high quality food for all human beings. In this sense, quality means on the one hand that food should not be harmful for the health and should have a good flavour. But quality means on the other hand that minimum social and ecological standards should be taken into account in food production. So Gender is important here in several respects.

Nutrition today is increasingly seen in terms of consumers finding out about and getting advice on healthy nutrition, nutritional illnesses (such as anorexia and obesity) and contamination of food. As a result of food scandals involving BSE and nitrofen contamination, increased networking between the areas of environment, health and nutrition will be needed in future. There are clear connections here with consumer protection.

People who are aware of the health aspects of nutrition often have a high level of education. Nutrition thus has a clear socio-economic component. So nutrition therefore also has a clear gender perspective, since women are more frequently than men the family’s “nutritional manager”. They are the ones who are responsible for doing the shopping and for the family’s health, especially of the children.

There are several gender aspects which are important in the area of nutrition.