Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Re: UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025: priority actions on nutrition for the next five years

Some comments:

Action Area 1: Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets

  • Scale up the inclusion of nutrition objectives in food and agriculture policies: increase production of context-appropriate fruits and vegetables for domestic consumption, and of legumes and pulses that contribute to healthy diets; raise production of oils in support of the elimination of industrially produced trans-fat in the food supply.

I will add: “Increase production of oleaginous nuts and seeds, consumption of wholegrain cereals, and drastically reduced production and consumption of ultra-processed foods.”

  • Accelerate food reformulation: provide reference ranges for sodium reduction level benchmarks for processed foods.

No reformation (reductionist approach) does not work and concern green washing of ultra-processed foods which are still more ultra-processed with reformulation. We should accelerate the development of mildly processed foods with preserved matrix (holistic approach). In addition, while nutrients are not really linked to global health and food systems, degree of processing is.

Action Area 2: Aligned health systems providing universal coverage of essential nutrition actions

  • Scale up the integration of nutrition actions into health systems: integrate essential nutrition actions into national Universal Health Coverage (UHC) plans.

All depends of what is meant by nutrition actions. If it is nutrient-centered nutrition actions, it will not be sufficient. Food/diet-centered nutrition actions are more appropriate.

Action Area 3: Social protection and nutrition education

  • Scale up the implementation of nutrition-sensitive social protection policies: ensure coherence between social protection and other sector programmes such as with agricultural production, livelihood diversification and local economic development; national supplementary food bank programmes provide weekly vouchers to each user for purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers.

I will add: taxations on ultra-processed foods which are the most consumed by the most disadvantaged people.

  • Better leverage of schools as a platform for food and nutrition education and enabling healthy diets: set and improve nutrition standards for school meals.

Very good point. The main point is to agree with what is a “healthy diet”, i.e., holistic and/or reductionist perspective.

  • Scale up the implementation of nutrition education interventions: implement easily understandable nutrition (front-of-pack) labelling on food products that supports consumers’ choices for healthy diets.

Yes, but a labelling based on degree of food processing (NOVA, Siga…), not on nutrients such as compositional score which are not adapted in reality to eat healthy and sustainable. Everywhere they are applied, chronic diseases continue to progress…

Action Area 4: Trade and investment for improved nutrition

  • Accelerate responsible and sustainable investments in nutrition: a minimum percentage of the overall national governmental yearly budget is set for nutrition interventions.

Yes, investing in holistic prevention rather than reductionist curative treatments.

Action Area 5: Safe and supportive environments for nutrition at all ages

  • Scale up the implementation of regulatory instruments to promote healthy diets: introduce taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages and subsidies for fruits and vegetables; implement legislation of marketing restrictions of foods and beverages high in fat, sugar and/or salt to children.

Extending taxation on ultra-processed foods as a whole entity with growing tax as a function of the number of markers of ultra-processing linked to global human and environmental health (hidden costs).

  • Scale up the implementation of national dietary guidelines: include in national dietary guidelines for children, adults and elderly biodiversity and sustainability considerations.

Also food degree of processing, the missing link.

Action Area 6: Strengthened governance and accountability for nutrition

  • Enhance political commitment through political dialogue and advocacy at national and sub-national levels: establish and strengthen coordination mechanism through a multistakeholder consultation process for the uptake of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition.

Yes, but the question of lobbies should be addressed. Lobbying may be virtuous or deleterious, depending on public or private interests. To discuss.