To date little is known of health, nutrition and food safety conditions of children living in rural camps and settlements. The present cross-sectional descriptive study seeks to present and discuss such conditions for children under two years of age in families of landless rural workers in the Central Western region of the State of Paraná. The study was conducted with a total of 337 children under two years of age in families living in two rural settlements and two rural camps. The main variables related with protein-energy malnutrition were assessed. Results indicated that the prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition was 4.7% in settlements and 10% in camps. Home location, home type and the possibility of producing food for private consumption were the distal variables that influenced most the nutritional status of the pediatric population analyzed. This study established that the search for nutritional and food safety must consider the right of accessing resources and proper means to produce safe and healthy foods in order to enable adequate feeding compatible with the habits and practices of the region.
Food safety; Rural settlements; Nutritional evaluation; Protein-energy malnutrition
