480K
households in Israel experience food insecurity
Food Security in Israel – Challenges and Unique Characteristics
This year’s publication includes a special section to mark the Report’s tenth anniversary, highlighting the progress made in addressing food loss and waste while also outlining the challenges that lie ahead and the steps required to meet them.
In Israel, food expenditure represents approximately 19% of the average household consumption basket, and rises to 22% among households in the lowest two income deciles. Yet food is not merely a major household expense—it is a basic human necessity. Access to a nutritionally balanced diet is critical to public health and is especially vital for the healthy development of infants and children. Consequently, food shortages or inadequate intake of essential nutrients can lead to harm that goes well beyond the market value of food, which only reflects production costs across the value chain.
Israel stands out among developed countries with one of the highest food expenditure rates, coupled with one of the highest poverty rates among OECD member states.[1] This combination makes food insecurity in Israel a particularly acute challenge. Based on estimates from the National Insurance Institute’s December 2021 report,[2] 16.2% of households in Israel experience food insecurity, amounting to approximately 485,000 households nationwide. Food spending among food-insecure households is approximately 25% below the normative level.
Food Production as an Environmental and Strategic Challenge to National Resilience
Industrial food production carries significant environmental costs[1], including degradation of water, soil, and air quality, loss of biodiversity, and the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In a small and arid country like Israel, water and land are particularly scarce and valuable resources. Agricultural production is itself inherently uncertain, being heavily influenced by external factors such as pests and increasingly volatile climate conditions.
Climate change has become a tangible and growing threat to the stability of global food systems. In Israel, where geographic and climatic conditions heighten this vulnerability, the effects are likely to be particularly severe. Rising temperatures, declining rainfall, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and wildfires, are already disrupting growing seasons, reducing agricultural productivity, straining water resources, and deepening inequalities in access to food.
The 2023 synthesis report[2] of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underscores climate change as a multidimensional threat to food security, especially in arid and semi-arid regions like Israel, where production systems depend on scarce freshwater resources and a stable climate. According to a risk assessment by Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, unless adaptive agricultural technologies are adopted, climate change could reduce yields of sensitive crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, and wheat by up to 20% by 2040.[3]
Using these limited assets to grow surplus agricultural products that ultimately go to waste results not only in direct economic costs, but also in considerable environmental and social impacts. Moreover, surplus food requires collection, removal, and disposal, most often through landfilling, which consumes additional resources and results in further environmental costs.
[1] Cut Waste, GROW PROFIT. How to reduce and manage food waste, leading to increased profitability and environmental sustainability, Background Paper, 2012
[2] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Geneva: IPCC.
[3] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (2022). Climate Impacts on Agricultural Productivity in Israel: Assessment Report.
Food Security as a Fundamental Component of National Resilience
A nation’s food security depends not only on its domestic production capacity or economic policy, but also on broader geopolitical factors, such as international relations, regional stability, and access to trade routes. For Israel, these factors are particularly critical, given its geographic location, reliance on imported staple foods, and fragile relationships with neighboring countries.
More specifically, Israel relies heavily on imported grains, legumes, oils, and other basic food products from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, India, and Romania. Political conflicts, security tensions with any of these countries, or broader instability in the global arena significantly disrupt Israel’s food supply, driving up prices and increasing living costs.
The Swords of Iron war demonstrated the vulnerability of Israel’s food system. During the conflict, in order to address emerging shortages, the volume of agricultural imports increased significantly. For example, in the first nine months of the war, Israel imported over 190,000 tons of fresh produce—a rise of approximately 40% compared to the same period in previous years.
The cessation of trade with Turkey in May 2024 further exacerbated the situation, leading to an additional rise in the prices of imported vegetables previously sourced from there. As a result, the fruit and vegetable price index rose by about 10% during the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period the previous year—clearly illustrating the rapid impact of disrupted trade and domestic supply shortages.
In 2024, Israel imported approximately 227,000 tons of fresh plant-based produce—an increase of about 13% compared to 2023. The leading imported items—apples, onions, pineapples, tomatoes, and garlic—accounted for roughly 75% of total fresh produce imports and originated from 30 different countries.[1] While this geographic diversification reduces the risk of dependence on a single exporter or country of origin, it also highlights Israel’s growing reliance on non-local agricultural products. This dependency exposes the Israeli market to significant economic and logistical risks, such as supply chain disruptions, global price volatility, or export restrictions imposed by source countries during emergencies, even when import sources appear to be diverse.
The Swords of Iron war, which destabilized the local supply of agricultural food, underscored the critical role of domestic agriculture in Israel’s resilience and national continuity. In practice, government import policies failed to resolve the shortages or curb rising prices during the crisis. This suggests that relying on agricultural imports, even in times of relative stability, is insufficient to ensure food security and may, in fact, pose a risk. Periods of instability in the local food supply, especially during times of war, demonstrate the strategic importance of a robust and self-sufficient Israeli agricultural sector for the country’s resilience and long-term sustainability.
This Report examines the issue of food loss and waste and the potential of food rescue through economic, social, environmental, and public health lenses, based on data-driven estimates and analysis. It incorporates updated data and methodological refinements, reflecting insights gained from the preparation and publication of previous editions.
Prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, this year’s edition also includes a special expanded chapter to mark the tenth anniversary of the Report’s publication.
[1] Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. (February 9, 2025).
https://www.gov.il/he/pages/increase_imports_of_fresh_vegetable_produce
