NUTRITION

Healthy eating. In early August, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) issued two publications promoting healthy eating policies. The first one, entitled “Health on the table – A consumer advocacy perspective on reducing overweight and obesity in Latin America“, collects the views of consumer organizations on healthy eating initiatives in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay). The second publication, entitled “Food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges in a post-pandemic scenario” is a report that diagnoses Latin American food systems, their evolution in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and makes public policy recommendations to public and private actors.  Countries in the region could take these documents into consideration in order to advance regulatory changes in the medium term. 

The first report identifies practices and makes recommendations for strengthening public policies to reduce obesity in the region. It finds that Latin American countries need significant regulatory intervention in the food environment. It highlights that front-of-package labelling is a priority in Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia and Uruguay. In addition, it recommends placing restrictions on the advertising of ultra-processed foods, particularly to children, and taxing unhealthy products such as sugar-sweetened beverages. It also advises regulators to set limits or reduction targets for the sodium, trans fat and sugar content of processed foods in order to make foods healthier, highlighting the Argentinean case with salt and trans fats. 

The second report diagnoses the food system in Latin America and the Caribbean. At the presentation of the publication, Julio Berdegué, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, mentioned that the region has one of the most expensive healthy food baskets in the world, and that Latin America will only be able to return to pre-pandemic levels in the next few years. He said that public policies should be implemented to combat this problem, seeking to reduce the cost of nutritious food for vulnerable sectors through family farming; support consumers in accessing healthy food through communal or virtual fairs; and finally, the establishment of policies such as food and nutrition education and food labeling, among others. 

Next steps

It is expected that both reports will be taken into account by the governments of the region, since the issue of healthy eating is on the agenda in several Latin American countries: in Panama, Guatemala and Argentina, projects on food labeling have been presented; in Colombia, progress has been made with a proposal from the Executive Branch on healthy food; and in Ecuador, a bill has been presented to combat child malnutrition.