Many people are not eating the right food. For some, it is simply a decision to stick with food they enjoy but which is not too healthy. This is leading to an increase in non-communicable diseases. This in turn leads to major burden on our health-care systems that have the potential to derail the economic progress which is essential for the poor to improve their lives. For others, it is about limited access to nutritious food or a lack affordability, leading to monotonous diets that do not provide the daily nutrients for them to develop fully. Part of the reason nutrition is under threat worldwide is that our food systems are not properly responding to nutritional needs. Somewhere along that long road from farm to fork, there are serious detours taking place.

Correct Option (B)

The passage primarily discusses the widespread issue of inadequate nutrition, attributing it to both individual dietary choices and systemic failures within global food systems. It highlights how these issues contribute to non-communicable diseases, burden healthcare infrastructure, and impede economic progress, particularly for vulnerable populations. The text explicitly states that "our food systems are not properly responding to nutritional needs" and points to "serious detours" in the food supply chain. Therefore, placing food-based nutrition at the core of policy discussions directly addresses the systemic and policy-level interventions required to rectify these identified shortcomings and ensure nutritional security.

Incorrect Options:

• The scheme of Universal Basic Income should be implemented worldwide as a way of poverty alleviation:

  The passage does not discuss income redistribution mechanisms such as Universal Basic Income. While poverty can impact access to nutritious food, the central theme of the passage revolves around the broader failures of food systems and dietary choices, not a specific economic intervention for poverty alleviation.

• Nutritional status of food should be improved by creating appropriate genetically modified crops:

  While genetically modified (GM) crops can potentially enhance nutritional content, the passage does not propose this as the primary solution. Its focus is on the overall functionality and responsiveness of food systems, encompassing accessibility, affordability, and distribution, rather than a singular technological approach to improving crop quality.

• Using modern food processing technologies, we must fortify food items with required nutrient elements:

  Food fortification is a specific intervention to address nutrient deficiencies. However, the passage's crux is the systemic failure of food systems to meet nutritional needs from "farm to fork." It emphasizes a comprehensive policy reorientation rather than a single technological fix like fortification, which is only one component of a broader nutritional strategy.