Nutrition

Regulation. In the framework of the 35th Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC) – held in Jamaica from March 5 to 8 -, the FAO director, Julio Berdegué, assured that the food industry should join the fight against Obesity, instead of assuming a defensive position against public policies that tries to reduce malnutrition. He stressed that if they do not join soon and proactively, they should do so “by force” later. He indicated that this fight is already lost by companies and anticipated that the regulations in this regard are imminent. About this, FAO will work with the members of the Parliamentary Fronts against Hunger in the countries of the region to promote regulations that strictly regulate food production.

In this regard, Berdegué listed the policies that FAO accompanied in regulatory matters for the sale, packaging and advertising of foods with high levels of sugar, fat and salt, with the aim of reducing consumption. Currently, the regional head of FAO announced that Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay have established laws or regulations to regulate the advertising directed to children of these products; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay have regulations for the frontal labeling of foods, while Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru and Uruguay have regulated and/or prohibited the sale of cited products in schools.

However, Berdegué considered that certain measures implemented by the States had a strong influence of the food industry, which reduced the regulatory impact that the regulation was expected to generate. However, he announced that they have begun to see the first actions of public policies that, in spite of having strong pressures from multinationals, generate a great regulatory impact. The case of Chile is categorical, since in 2016 a new regulation to label food came into force. The representative of the FAO considered that there the subsidiaries “are doing very good business and adapted to the laws”, so they can learn as countries impose their policies.

Next steps

In response to the measures taken by other States, the FAO representative considered that they should be “more substantive” in areas such as labeling, taxes on certain unhealthy foods and beverages and the correction of levels of fats and sugars. The next conference will be held in Nicaragua in 2020, where the joint efforts of the countries of the region will be reviewed once again in order to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals by 2030, in order to achieve Hunger Zero in the region.