Health Coalition Aotearoa Calls On The Government To Take Action To Address Issues In The Food System

The detailed and comprehensive Public Health Advisory
Committee (PHAC) Balancing
Our Food System report released by the Ministry of
Health today identifies several issues that Health Coalition
Aotearoa food and nutrition experts have been calling for
action on for many years.

Health Coalition Aotearoa
commends the report for its evidence-based and holistic
approach that includes expert advice from consultation from
a wide range of leaders in this field. It identifies a range
of areas of focus such as children and enabling local
communities and draws on exemplars such as Healthy Families
New Zealand that can create system change at a local level,
but has only been implemented in limited areas across the
country.

HCA co-chair Professor Lisa Te Morenga
remains frustrated at a lack of action to fix a food system
that is not delivering positive health and equity outcomes
for New Zealanders. Given the wealth of evidence available
through both the PHAC report and the 2023 New
Zealand Healthy Food Policy Index (Food-EPI), she is
urging the Minister of Health to take this report seriously
and respond to the recommendations
provided.

“The report identifies the
urgent need for government leadership in the area of obesity
and diet-related diseases, fiscal policies to redress the
imbalance of healthy versus unhealthy foods and drinks, and
marketing restrictions for unhealthy foods to children,” Te
Morenga said.

“Healthy diets are
essential for wellbeing and many New Zealanders are becoming
sick and dying before their time due to inaction by our
government. The cost of living, crushing child poverty rates
limiting the potential of our nation and the cost of healthy
food are all reasons why we have been so in persistent
demanding urgent action. We sincerely hope that the Minister
of Health will take this report seriously and discuss the
findings and recommendations with his colleagues.”

New
Zealand faces serious health consequences from unhealthy
food, with diet and excess body weight responsible for 18
per cent of premature death and disability.

Our
experts are in agreement that fixing the food system will
require an all-of-government and all-of-community response.
There are however specific policies and initiatives already
in place, such as a Health Star Ratings (HSR) system that,
if made mandatory, can assist people to make healthy
choices.

Analysis of the HSR system by University of
Auckland researchers earlier this month found that although
diet-related non-communicable diseases are the biggest
preventable cause of death and ill-health in New Zealand,
only 30.4 per cent of products carried a HSR in mid-2023,
making a mockery of the system.

“We are calling for
clear leadership from the Public Health Agency and the
development of a government-sectoral National Food Systems
and Nutrition Strategy and a mandatory approach to policy as
the previous voluntary approach has been ineffective,” said
HCA Food Policy Panel co-chair and co-author of the
University of Auckland report and Food-EPI Dr Sally
Mackay.

“Making the HSR mandatory, restricting the
marketing of unhealthy food to children and ensuring only
healthy foods and drinks are provided and sold in schools
are actions that will have positive outcomes on the health
and wellbeing of New
Zealanders.”

© Scoop Media