The National Food Plan: food policy or something else?

 Image source: wikimedia commons

The Australian Government released the National Food Plan White Paper (the Paper) on 25 May 2013. At the time the then Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said ‘For the first time, Australia’s food businesses and consumers have a road map for the future…’ The Paper, however, is not about food for Australians; it has minimal focus on what Australians eat, or food processing in Australia. It is more an export plan, particularly for Australian producers.

Food Allergy Week 2013

Image source: US National Library of Medicine

This week (13–19 May 2013) is national Food Allergy Week, organised by Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA), a non-profit allergy advocacy and support group now in its 20th year. Reflecting what is sometimes referred to as the ‘allergy epidemic’, Australia has one of the highest reported rates of food allergy in the world. Current research suggests that one in ten 12 month old infants in Australia has a food allergy, and according to A&AA, ‘life threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) in children aged under five years old have increased five-fold over the last 10 years in Australia’. There are nine foods known to be responsible for 90% of food allergic reactions, with allergies in childhood to cow’s milk, egg, peanut, and tree nuts being the most common.

Good food=Good health: making it add up

Image: Hawkesbury Council

A healthy diet is fundamental to good health, acknowledges the latest Australian Dietary Guidelines prepared by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) this week. Based on a stringent review of over 55,000 scientific publications, the guidelines update and strengthen the evidence from the previous 2003 dietary guidelines. Primarily aimed at health professionals, the key recommendations of the guidelines are:

• Eat a variety of nutritious foods from the 5 key food groups (vegetables, fruit, grains, lean meats and nuts, low-fat dairy) to meet your energy needs
• Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol
• Encourage and support breastfeeding
• Prepare and store food safely

Raising awareness on palm oil

On 23 June 2011, the Coalition joined with the Greens and the independent Senator Nick Xenophon to ensure the Senate passed the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling—Palm Oil) Bill 2011 (the private members’ Bill has yet to be introduced into the House of Representatives). There are two main issues identified with palm oil: the environmental effects of plantations (including loss of tropical rainforest), and the health effects of palm oil versus other vegetable oils.

Marketing obesity

Image sourced from: free-extras.com

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. In 2010, world-wide there were an estimated 42 million children under five years old who were overweight, and this figure is increasing at an alarming rate.

Children who are overweight or obese are likely to grow into obese adults who risk developing a number of chronic non‐communicable ailments, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As these diseases add billions in health costs to national economies, it is clearly desirable both for individuals and for society overall, to devise and introduce policies which prohibit or limit their proliferation.

Australian report on Bisphenol A

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has released its report on Bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging and the risks to consumers. The compound BPA has a controversial history. It is suspected of being an endocrine disruptor (a chemical that mimics some of the natural hormones of the human body). It can also be directly toxic at high enough doses. More recent studies have found a range of other possible adverse effects from BPA, but this research is still preliminary and subject to confirmation.