NUTRITION

Healthy eating. On September 30, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held a virtual conference on healthy eating to promote awareness of food security and nutrition in Latin America, specifically to promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables. With a view to promoting the transformation of regional food systems, FAO developed proposals to achieve this objective and the event urged Latin American countries, especially Central America, to advance in regulatory frameworks that promote good eating habits and reduce food loss and waste, among others. It is hoped that the region’s executive and legislative branches will take FAO’s recommendations into consideration and implement the proposals presented in the short term.

Within this framework, FAO generated a set of proposals to raise awareness of the benefits of fresh produce for consumers and the food system. These can be summarized in 3 ideas: promoting the transformation of food systems by incorporating healthy diets; promoting the reduction of food waste; and working with the fruit sector to achieve prosperity in the rural sector, reducing hunger and inequalities. Countries were urged to incorporate these proposals into their government programs, as they will lead to improvements in the population’s nutrition. Special emphasis was placed on school feeding programs, since they are ideal for promoting better eating practices and healthy lifestyles.

Specialists from various FAO programs in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and El Salvador participated in the virtual conference. Also in attendance were outstanding institutions from Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Panama. Participants stressed the need to promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables in diets, as opposed to foods that meet energy needs through starch, particularly in Central America, one of the main exporters of these foods in the world. The event highlighted the work of the Parliamentary Front against Hunger (FPH in Spanish) and the PARLATINO Committee on Agriculture, which supported and promoted measures in this regard.

Next steps

It is expected that the recommendations will be taken into consideration in the further development of public policies in this area in Latin America. It is expected that in the short term, both governments and other regional institutions will move forward with regulations that take into consideration the importance of promoting healthy diets, especially by incorporating fruits and vegetables in the diet.

Based on the measures proposed by FAO, several lines of action can be deployed. These include approaching the organization for joint participation in awareness campaigns in the countries of the region, not only at the local level but also in schools. In this regard, given that 2021 was declared by the UN as the “International Year of Fruits and Vegetables”, consideration could be given to the possibility of organizing a healthy eating day where on that day orders are accompanied by this type of food with the aim of encouraging and promoting healthy and nutritious diets.