Food aid was initially managed according to the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy in order to dispose of surpluses. Over the years food aid policy has gradually been reformed, delinking it from the Common Agricultural Policy and integrating it more firmly into the Union's development policy in response to concerns about food security. This has replaced the 1995 Convention. EU operations in support of food security consist of either supplying food products or financing development projects relating to food security. Among the products to be supplied as food aid the largest category is cereals.
Cereals are staple products for coping with a range of famines and structural food shortages.
Wheat and white maize are the main cereals allocated to Africa. Rice is consumed largely in Asia but also in many other developing countries. Pulses, in particular beans, are rich in protein and often particularly suited to the diets of the recipient groups. Other categories are vegetable oil, sugar, milk powder, and butteroil. Vegetable oil adds fat to the diet while sugar is useful as an energy booster in food supplement programmes for severely undernourished groups of refugees and displaced persons.