{"id":535,"date":"2008-08-02T10:27:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-02T08:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morten.me\/?p=535"},"modified":"2015-10-17T08:45:17","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T06:45:17","slug":"new-uk-strategy-for-safer-healthier-and-more-environmentally-sustainable-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/morten.me\/?p=535","title":{"rendered":"New UK strategy for safer, healthier and more environmentally sustainable food"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The government of Great Britain in July 2008 published this 144 page strategic report on the need for healthier food systems.<\/p>\n

The report sets out to determine what the objectives of future food strategy should be and the measures needed to achieve them. The challenges are centred around A) economics B) health C) safety and D) environment. So the The future strategic policy objectives are to secure: fair prices, choice, access to food and food security through open and competitive markets; continuous improvement in the safety of food; a further transition to healthier diets; and a more environmentally sustainable food chain.<\/p>\n

The UK Government has agreed to all the proposals set out in this report and will take them forward with immediate effect, including:<\/p>\n

1) Bringing together, for the first time, integrated information and advice for consumers on the impacts of food on health and the environment.<\/p>\n

2) Making it easier for consumers to make healthy choices when eating out.<\/p>\n

3) Recognising that community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises have an important role to play in supporting activities that promote healthy eating and more sustainable production and consumption, and in encouraging public debate about food issues, and thus in promoting new social norms that facilitate behavioural and cultural change.<\/p>\n

4) In view of the evidence of its importance for diet and health outcomes, making further progress with the 5 A DAY campaign is a priority. Renewed focus is needed on targeting groups where intake remains low, such as low-income families, and on working with industry to take the campaign forward.<\/p>\n

5) The public sector in England should be leading by example. More nutritious, environmentally sustainable food will be delivered through new minimum standards ensuring healthier food across the public sector.<\/p>\n

6) Well-functioning, competitive markets should provide fair prices for consumers and a fair deal throughout the supply chain. Reducing distortions in agricultural trade and raising agricultural productivity in the developing world would improve global food security.<\/p>\n

7) Recent rises in food commodity prices call for a concerted international response.<\/p>\n

8) The Government\u2019s Chief Scientific Adviser is commissioning a major new study to examine how the global food system needs to evolve in a world adapting to, and mitigating, climate change.<\/p>\n

9) On-farm GHG emissions are set to be the focus of increasing attention in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

10) UK consumers spend an average of \u00a3420 per household each year on food that they then throw away. Eliminating household food waste would deliver major benefits.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Office to establish and support a Food Strategy Task Force to drive forward the implementation of all the measures in this report.<\/p>\n

Find the new report here<\/a><\/p>\n

Selected high lights from reading the report:<\/span><\/p>\n

On actions against the obesity epidemic this report is refers to the evidence base developed by the Government\u2019s Foresight programme<\/a>. The Government has set out a separate strategy to tackle obesity in England \u2013 Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives<\/a>. This establishes a framework for action in areas including: children, food and activity incentives (p 79).<\/p>\n

A surprisingly detailed plan for making CO2 footprint labeling scheeme is included on page 59. The report also cites a survey finding 60% of consumers thought that retailers should make it easier for them to make sustainable choices by introducing higher standards in some product areas. This is termed “Choice editing” (p 61).<\/p>\n

On page 52 you can read: ‘Behaviour (i.e. personal choices) will need to change over time if the societal challenges such as climate change and obesity are to be addressed, but the Government\u2019s licence to influence these behaviours or limit the options has boundaries. Over time such boundaries may move as social norms change, as happened with seatbelts in cars and smoking, but the process of cultural evolution takes time’. An urging task is how this process of much needed cultural evolution best can be facilitated. Any suggestions?<\/p>\n

Finally I’m looking very much forward to reading the results of the following three commitments:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. By December 2008 the first proposal for a new programme to make it easier for consumers to make healthy choices when eating out.<\/li>\n
  2. By September 2008 the new 5 A DAY action plan will be finalised.<\/li>\n
  3. The government will commission research to develop a smarter system for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. This research will be completed by 2013.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All in all this is an impressive report. Even though the report does not mention speciffic new funding for the many priorities, one can hope that the endorsement by Government of all the proposals will make a difference. I wish many other governments would make similar reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The government of Great Britain in July 2008 published this 144 page strategic report on the need for healthier food systems. The report sets out to determine what the objectives of future food strategy should be and the measures needed to achieve them. The challenges are centred around A) economics B) health C) safety and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,14,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morten.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}