A dialogue between the food industry and health sector on imported and processed food 5-7 November 2008 Sydney, Australia |
Dialogue SummaryDraft Meeting Report - March 2009 Please send comments regarding the Draft Meeting Report to Jan Kang: Jan_Kang@wsahs.nsw.gov.au at the Global Health Institute, Sydney West Area Health Services As the global economic crisis and skyrocketing food prices force everyone from grocers to consumers to search for the most value, Pacific Island leaders met to discuss ways to improve the nutritional quality of imported and processed foods in the Pacific Island Countries.  |
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Poor nutrition damages people's health, vitality, learning ability and productivity. Economic woes exacerbate the
situation if people eliminate the more expensive proteins, fruits and vegetables from their diets to save money.
The three-day dialogue challenged leaders to add nutritional value to food staples which
people generally consume regardless of the economic climate.
The dialogue included leaders from heath, regulatory and standards, agriculture, and trade sectors, as well as food manufacturers in the
Pacific Island and exporting countries. Leaders in this unique gathering worked towards bringing better food products to the Pacific region to overcome poor nutrition which is damaging the people's health,
vitality, learning ability and productivity while contributing to the
burden of disability.
The region’s health issues demand this type of intervention. Obesity is endemic, with obesity
rates in some islands as high as 80 percent.* Separate reports from the World Health
Organization and UNICEF reveal that the region’s most documented nutritional
problem is anaemia, largely caused by iron deficient diets and parasites.
The positive impact of all other investments in education and health are being substantially undermined because of the lack of essential vitamins and minerals including iodine, vitamin A, zinc and folic acid (vitamin B9), vitamin B12.. This was acknowledged as a major health issue at a meeting organised by WHO and FAO for the Health Ministers of Pacific Island Countries in March 2007, and at the Food Standards meeting of food regulators from 22 Pacific Island nations in Manila in December 2007. Initiatives discussed during the dialogue included preventable disabilities such as childhood blindness, impaired intellectual development, and many forms of severe birth defects. The dialogue also focused on actions to reduce the burden of obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and strokes), and diabetes. |