Duncan Williamson

Finally the EC consultation on food has arrived. It is running until 1 October and is being presented in a nice, accessible manner. We welcome this consultation, as it builds on an established evidence base around the need to look at the whole food system. Yes, we need to talk about production, consumption, waste, health, environmental and development issues. All of these are affected by EU food policy and all will benefit from a joined up approach.

The consultation covers a lot of ground. It is good to see sustainable food is clearly defined and that the work is taking a global perspective. From the point of view of our work on LiveWell for LIFE the specific reference to the impacts of “Western Diets” and high consumption of meat, fat and sugar is a breakthrough and vitally important. We can work together to define the principles for a sustainable diet. These can be promoted throughout members states and further afield. It is not a concept to be afraid of. It will benefit people’s health and bank balances, and it is working towards environmental goals.

A move towards sustainable diets will have economic and social benefits for countries as a whole. Diet related ill health costs countries billions of Euros each year to treat, whilst the indirect costs such as increased sick days, reduced productivity and other costs to business can quadruple these costs. In 2011, the direct costs of treating obesity to the NHS were over £4 billion whilst the indirect costs are estimated to be £16 billion. That is a staggering £20 billion and that is just one disease.

Waste is another issue raised. We fully recognise the need to work on this. After all, when food is wasted you are wasting money, water, land, people’s time and hard work. It is a scandal found all along the food chain. This subject has to be covered, as does post-harvest loss. The temptation would have been just to focus on waste. It is a low hanging fruit that everyone agrees is scandalous. However, it is only one part of the broken food system and there is a lot more that needs to be fixed. By going beyond waste this consultation is not just suggesting a sticking plaster but it promoting a cure. This will benefit most people. The ones who might not like it will probably shout the loudest.
I urge everybody with an interest in food to respond and support this rounded, whole food chain approach.

This is a rare opportunity to pull food and the various stakeholders out of their silos and get them all to work to the same results, ones that can benefit everyone and not just individual organisational objectives. This can only be a good thing.

Duncan Williamson

Food Policy Manager – WWF-UK