NZ Imports Of Unhealthy Ultra-Processed Foods Have Risen Sharply Since 1990 – New Study

Kelly
Garton, University
of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Over
the past three decades, New Zealand’s imports of
“ultra-processed” foods and drinks increased
significantly, from 16 kilograms per person in 1990 to 104
kilograms in 2023.

Our
research shows the share of ultra-processed foods (UPFs)
in New Zealand’s total food and drink imports rose from 9%
in 1990 to 22% in 2023.

The medical journal The
Lancet defines
UPFs as:

branded, commercial
formulations made from cheap ingredients extracted or
derived from whole foods, combined with additives, and
mostly containing little to no whole
food.

These foods include soft
drinks, sweet and savoury snacks and ready meals. They are
gaining global attention as a major health and environmental
concern.

Diets high in UPFs carry
a risk of developing a wide range of serious health
conditions – including being overweight or obese, type 2
diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, chronic kidney
disease and depression – and premature death.

Due to their reliance on plastic packaging, and
water and energy use in production, they are also environmentally
damaging.

We don’t have a clear picture of
how much ultra-processed food New Zealanders are eating
because the country has not run a national nutrition survey
since 2008.

But if New Zealand is anything like
Australia or Canada, it is likely about half
the population’s energy intake is represented by UPFs.

The rise in dominance of UPFs observed over three
decades in this study highlights the need for policies to
counteract these trends in order to protect population
nutrition.

Cheap and high in energy

UPFs
are are generally made of cheap inputs such as high-yield
crops (soy, maize, wheat, sugarcane, palm fruits) or scraps
of meat, which are separated into starches, fibre, sugars,
proteins and oils and fats.

These components are
then chemically modified and combined, using industrial
techniques such as extrusion, moulding and pre-frying.

They are typically high in calories as well as
sugars, salt and fats. Most contain additives such as
flavours, colours and emulsifiers to make the final product
look and taste good.

We know about 70%
of packaged food in New Zealand supermarkets is
ultra-processed. We also know that 18% of
premature death and disability is due to unhealthy diets
and excess weight; two risk factors linked to high UPF
consumption.

History of UPF entry into New
Zealand

UPFs have entered
the global market during the past 70 years. Initially
developed as military rations during the second world war,
they have since become ubiquitous.

Research
shows US tobacco companies bought UPF manufacturers and
applied their knowledge of flavours and child-focused
marketing to develop sweetened drink brands and products
with purposeful combinations of salt, fats and sugars that
trigger a dopamine-like reward response.

Combined
with chemical flavourings, these products became “hyper
palatable” and designed to be over-eaten.

UPF
producers based mainly in the US and Europe then sought to
expand
their reach into other regions, including the Pacific,
vying for entry into untapped markets in middle- and
lower-income countries.

New Zealand is an
interesting case because it had a highly regulated food
system until the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and early
1990s. The market was insular and food choices were limited
until then.

After the World Trade Organization was
established in 1995, New Zealand rapidly opened up to
overseas imports as well as foreign investment to develop
its own food processing industries.

Tracking
imports reveals concerning trend

Even more than
the UPF products themselves, food derivatives such as
industrial sweeteners and other commodity ingredients (for
example, refined wheat flour and plant oils) destined to go
into UPFs produced domestically make up a large and growing
proportion of import volumes.

In 2023, New Zealand
imported nearly 21 kilograms of industrial sugar sweeteners
per person (in addition to 47 kilograms per person of
regular cooking sugar).

These trends have occurred
alongside a dramatic rise in obesity in the New Zealand
population. While correlation does not imply causality, the
influx in UPFs suggests we are likely consuming too much to
be healthy.

The world’s top
food system experts recommend dietary patterns with a
diversity of whole or minimally processed foods (that are
mostly plant-sourced), and minimal consumption of added
sugars, saturated fats and salt.

But New
Zealand’s food
environments are increasingly dominated by UPFs,
including products that target children. Social and economic
circumstances (with one
in three households struggling with food insecurity)
increase people’s reliance on cheap, less perishable and
convenient food.

Many people are time-poor,
financially constrained and have limited inter-generational
and community support, and whole foods are increasingly
expensive.
The addictive
properties of UPFs and constant marketing make people
crave these products.

Shifting these trends isn’t
going to happen through market self-correction or individual
behavioural change.

According to a 2023 progress
report, successive governments have failed to implement
internationally recommended policies for regulating
unhealthy food products, falling well behind global best
practice.

The report highlights the need for New
Zealand to introduce mandatory regulations to reduce
unhealthy food marketing in all media and on packaging, with
a particular focus on protecting children.

It also
recommends a levy on sugary drinks and mandatory targets for
reducing salt and added sugar in key food categories of
processed and ultra-processed foods. However, interventions
will also be needed to make healthy, whole foods more
available and affordable.

Each of these
interventions stands to put a significant dent in New
Zealanders’ consumption of UPFs, especially if implemented
together as a comprehensive policy package to promote
healthier food environments.

Kelly
Garton, Senior Research Fellow in Population Health,
University
of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

This article is republished from The Conversation
under a Creative Commons license. Read the original
article.