NUTRITION

Healthy eating. On November 10, the special bicameral committee on the right to food of the Uruguayan Congress met with representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to begin work on legal changes to combat the increase in obesity in the country. This committee, which functions as the national chapter of the “Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean” (FPH-ALC in Spanish), undertook to analyze legal reforms in the areas of food safety, food waste and food labeling. To this end, it will use FAO’s technical support. In this regard, the legislative body convened a meeting for December 8, where it will receive the Observatory of the Right to Food ODA-UDELAR, an opportunity in which it could receive additional inputs to advance the aforementioned legal changes.

The committee, created in May 2021, will study the bill that the Executive Branch aspires to present on the Right to Food, Food Security and Nutrition. This regulation is being drafted with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It will also analyze the legal framework of the current decree on food labeling and the possibility of converting it into law to give it greater legal hierarchy. The committee will also evaluate whether to draft a regulation establishing guidelines for the disposal of food surpluses and food waste. To address these initiatives, the committee will work with all the sectors involved.

The committee will function as the Uruguayan national version of the FPH-ALC. This Front has been working on the promotion and harmonization of legislative frameworks and public food policies in the region, in line with the mandate of the UN Food Systems Summit. To date, more than 50 laws in force in the region have been promoted by the FPH-ALC since 2009. During the pandemic, the FPH-ALC has promoted more than 20 laws including Ecuador’s school food law, Colombia’s food labeling law, El Salvador’s law on public procurement for family farming, and the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament’s (PARLATINO) model law on food security and climate change.

Next steps

The committee will meet on December 8 with the Right to Food Observatory ODA-UDELAR to present the Right to Food Monitoring System for children and adolescents in Uruguay. On this occasion, it is expected that they will receive inputs that will help nurture the proposed laws on healthy eating, labeling and food waste.

Engagement opportunity: As a committee of the Uruguayan legislature, McDonald’s can influence the issues that the committee deals with by participating in the meetings of the committees and in the public hearings of the legislative space. The work of the committee will be extended, with this conformation, until February 14, 2025.