Franklin D. Roosevelt at Hot Springs, Virginia, USA in May/June 1943, during the
Second World War, led to the creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO). In his State of the Union address on 6 January
1941, before the United States entered the war, President Roosevelt had identified
`four essential freedoms': freedom of speech; of worship; from want; and from
fear `everywhere in the world' (Rosenman, 1950). FAO's founding conference
was organized `to consider the goal of freedom from want in relation to food
and agriculture'. It was recognized that `freedom from want means a secure, an
adequate, and a suitable supply of food for every man' (FAO, 1943). The conference
was strongly influenced by the `new science' of nutrition and its importance for
health and well-being, already recognized by the League of Nations before the
Second World War (see below). Its ultimate objective was defined as insuring `an
abundant supply of the right kinds of food for all mankind', hence the importance
of dietary standards as a guide for agricultural and economic policies concerned
with improving the diet and health of the world's population. The work of the
conference emphasized `the fundamental interdependence of the consumer and
the producer'. All inhabitants of the earth were consumers. At the time, more than
two-thirds of adults were also food producers.
confidence of victory, has considered the world problems of food and agricul-
ture and declares its belief that the goal of freedom from want of food, suitable
and adequate for the health and strength of all peoples can be achieved.
millions of people from tyranny and hunger. Thereafter, a concerted effort was
needed to `win and maintain freedom from fear and freedom from want. The one
cannot be achieved without the other'. But, the declaration also stated: `There
has never been enough food for the health of all people'. Food production had
to be `greatly expanded', for which `we now have the knowledge of the means