UN warns of global health disaster from unhealthy foods
New York, 07 Mar – (ANA) - Globalized food systems and the spread of Western lifestyles has spawned an international public health disaster with over a billion people suffering from Under-nourishment while another billion remain overweight or obese, the United Nations has warned. “Our food systems create sick people,” said Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, as he presented his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “The right to food means not only access to an adequate quantity of food, but also the ability to have a balanced and nutritious diet,” he added, while urging governments to uphold their responsibility in securing their citizens’ right to healthy foods. In his new report, Mr. De Schutter identified five priorities for putting nutrition back at the heart of food systems in both the developed and developing world. They are taxing unhealthy products; regulating foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar; cracking down on junk food advertising; overhauling “wrong-headed” agricultural subsidies making unhealthy ingredients cheaper than others; and supporting local food production. “Urbanization, supermarketization, and the global spread of Western lifestyles have shaken up traditional food habits. The result is a public health disaster,” said the expert. (ANA)
FA/ANA/07 March 2012--------