Formulating a National Food Policy to Promote Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems

This assignment discusses the need for a national food policy to promote healthy and sustainable food systems in Australia. It reviews the current national diet, identifies gaps between the current diet and a sustainable one, and suggests policy actions to address the issue.

Running head: FOOD POLICY AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Formulating a National Food Policy to Promote Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The purpose of this assignment is to develop a national food policy. The current diet of
the Australians is not at par with the healthy and sustainable diet. The current diet systems will
be reviewed in this paper and the brief will be given about the needed diet for the people that will
reduce their health problems. The focus will be on the current national diet. The gap between the
current national diet and the sustainable healthy diet will be discussed as well. The national food
policy will also be discussed in this matter with focus on the healthy and sustainable food items.
Part One
The type of policy
Nutrition and public health is more or less one of the most critical responsibilities of the
Australian government. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has featured some elements and
ingredients of food that will be beneficial for the people of Australia. People should follow these
food habits to combat public health disorders (1). The Global Nutrition Report of 2019 has
revealed that public health issues are growing day by day, and people should always care for
their sustainable health system.
The current national diet consists of several food items. These food items include the
fruits, wholegram cereals, vegetables and legumes or beans, cheese, yoghurt, reduced fat milk,
red meat for young females, seafood, fish and other different food items. Many people in
Australia are also fond of poor eating habits like baked food products like pastries, fried take-
away foods that increases fat and food items with saturated fat and added sugar.
It has been revealed that a large number of people are currently suffering from
malnutrition and eating disorders (2). To cope with this issue, people should always look into
their food habits and go for a balanced and sustainable diet. This kind of sustainable diet includes

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both animal and plant-based foods. The patterns of human diet have left a negative impact on the
health and environment in Australia for various reasons. There are generally three reasons as to
why people suffer from diet issues in Australia. These primary causes are dietary excesses,
dietary imbalances and sustainability in the food system and security of health (1). The
sustainable food systems in Australia will inevitably cause minimum damage in Australia, and its
less impact will be significant on the environment as well. The practice of eating balanced foods
should begin to save the planet earth from the minimum damage.
Malnutrition can be found in different forms. These forms are undernutrition, obesity and
all sorts of dietary risks in the world. The effect of climate change can also disturb the health of
people. Heavy rainfall can sometimes cause some stomach problems in people if they consume
unhealthy food. This is why people must start to focus on healthy eating habits as soon as
possible. Diet-related diseases and risk factors are increasing all over the world. In order to
prevent them, people should start to eat sustainable foods. Obesity is one of the most vulnerable
diseases regarding diet issues all over the world (2). It has also created a negative impact on the
health and well being of the individuals as well. The intake of the nutrients is a significant factor
for the overall development of the body. The proper relationship between health and nutrients
should be developed and understood correctly.
Moreover, the United Nations should take care of this issue in a proper manner. After
that only, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be able to derive how this issue can be curbed
down (3). Through the implementation of the active food policies, chronic food diseases can be
adequately managed indeed. The government can opt to take some strict steps to make the most
of the opportunities (24). Different levels of governance should be interested in the well being of
ordinary people's health issues. The types of food consumption by the people must be formulated

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so the problems can be dealt with more effectiveness indeed. A proper sustainable diet will;
always keep the chronic diseases away and the only way to do this by including fruits and
vegetables in the daily diet chart (3).
Current national diet
The food groups are quite significant because they cater to better health conditions of the
individuals. Generally, there are five major food groups, and the government of Australia should
follow this regularly. These five major food groups consist of:-
Consumption of 5 food groups
 Fruit
 Legumes and Vegetables
 Cereal foods or grains, high cereal fibre and wholegrain
 Fishes, eggs, tofu, seeds and nuts, poultry and lean meats
 Yogurt, milk, cheese and other alternatives
The current diet of Australia is something to look for and discuss. As a part of the dietary
guidelines of Australia, some sections should be mentioned in this section.
 Promotion of health and well being among common people of the country
 Reduction of the risks regarding diet-related issues like high blood pressure, high
cholesterol and obesity
 Modification of the different types of diseases like type 2 diabetes, few examples of
cancers and cardiovascular diseases of some sorts (20).

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Discretionary food items
The dietary patterns of the people generally depend on various things like the cultural
backgrounds, personal preferences and rational choices of the ordinary people. The national
nutritional pattern of Australia in current times constitutes the intake of foods that have high
energy and saturated fat (4). The Australian Bureau of Statistics has claimed that this type of
food habit creates a negative impact on the health and its well being. The saturated fat in food
will cause significant problems for the people regarding their health and well being of the
environment as well. This is why the food groups should be appropriately divided, and food
sources should be distributed among the people as per their needs (19).
Plant-based versus animal-based foods
Apart from this, one of the most important elements for keeping better health is the
consumption of plant-based and animal-based food in Australia. Many people in Australia eat
food made both of animals and plants (4). The individuals in Australia must understand the fact
that they should always taste good and healthy meal or else their health will be put in jeopardy.
The government should also formulate some ideas through which they can optimize their food
choices. Some core foods must be selected by the consumers that will help them to keep their
health good (23). The government also has the liability for providing the best food resources to
the people of the country so they can be free of the different types of malnutrition (5). The food
choices should be made very wisely, and people should be aware of the overall qualities of each
kind of food. The people of Australia generally do not intake the foods condensed with varied
nutrients (19). This is why the situation has been terrible, indeed. People must intake food
elements like vegetables, cereals, fruits, beans and legumes and other healthy things. This is
probably the only way in which they can make the best of their health (23).

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Part Two
Gaps between current diet and sustainable one
It is therefore very crucial to find out the causes for the gaps between the current diet
programs of the people and the one i.e. highly required for sustainable health. The main problem
lies in the fact that the commoners are not that much aware of the sustainable diet programs (5).
Actually, they do not have much idea on how they can improve their health conditions.
Therefore, they are also unaware of the percentage of healthy elements in the foods as well. So,
they will require knowledge about the state of their health and take the needed steps by
consulting with the doctors or the nutrition experts. The need for plant-based foods has increased
a lot in contemporary times, and it has replaced the animal-based foods (6).
The mortality rates of human beings have also decreased significantly as well because
they tend to consume unhealthy foods. People should be made aware of the dangers of
malnutrition, obesity, underweight and overweight problems. So, people should be very cautious
about the percentage of the food that they take. The energy-based diets are not used in many
cases among the people of society (18).
Assessment of the food system causes and policy problems
Therefore, the people of the country are not getting the proper diet made of fruits and
vegetables. Obesity has become a massive factor for the young generation of the country (6).
This is because they are far away from utilizing the effective diet chart programs. So, they are
not at all getting benefitted, and the current diet of the people is affecting their health conditions

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altogether (20). Therefore, the risk factors cannot be controlled and people are facing these
problems as they do not follow the sustainable diet chart at all.
The components of the food supply chain should be addressed in this context. When the
food reaches to the consumers, it goes through certain steps. The production of the food is the
first step where the food components and grains are collected. Then it is sent to the factory where
the processing of the food takes place. After that, it is distributed to the different shops and big
supermarkets. The percentage of the ingredients used is written on the packaged containers. The
consumers can buy those foods from the supermarkets in person or they can order these items
through online retail marketing. Thus the entire supply chain circles round.
Part Three
Identifying the types of policies
The final piece of this paper will aim at presenting a proper food policy at the national level
to look after the overall well being of Australia. This will create a positive impact on the
environment as well. Proper dietary guidelines should be given to the people since it is very
much necessary from all the aspects (8). The government should make the partnerships since
they alone cannot make these changes indeed. Some problems can arise after implementing these
policies at the national level, but the government should take up all the necessary actions to take
the appropriate steps. The best kind of collaboration to implement this national food policy will
be government-led/ public-private partnership (21). Hence it can be claimed that the government
would be responsible for the evaluation of this policy and undertake the desired actions in order
to implement this policy. The food system should be formulated and implemented by the

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Government led organizations. It is because the government would be able to implement all the
rules very strictly and it will be good for the people of the country as well. The government
should evaluate the ways these policies could be implemented. Then they would pass new laws
to look into sales of the food items.
Through this, the government will be able to use all the resources of the private food
industries. They can help the government with the needed data of food consumptions of different
types (8). This is where the government will be able to take all the necessary and strict actions to
ban the use of bad foods. There are some three steps by which they can make the successful
implementation of the policies. These three steps are the formulation of the systems,
implementing the plans for the benefit of all and evaluating them to find out the positive and
negative points of the policy (17). Some important things should always be kept in the minds of
the government of Australia.
 The governments should measure the population levels through the census. This will help
them to understand the needs for the proper formulation of the food policy (9).
 The proper reasons for the chronic diseases should be found out, and all these diet-related
chronic diseases should be reduced by formulating the use of plant-based foods.
 The controls should be put on upper intake levels of the food so excess food cannot be
consumed at all (16).
 People should be encouraged to take the nutrients that will have better health benefits
indeed.
Three orders of food system

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The sections of the society who are involved in the formulation, implementation and
evaluation of the policy are the government, food industry, citizen of the country and
professional agencies. The information about the quality of the food will be sent to the
government. The government officials will come and check the quality of the food items by
collecting the feedbacks from the households. If they find any discrepancies with the quality,
they will escalate the matter to the higher authorities. The producers of the food items will be
called upon and evaluation will be done. It will be observed if the organizations are abiding by
the national dietary guidelines properly.
Therefore, they can also collect data on the consumption of different types of food by
different groups of people. This will surely help them to understand how they can make the
proper arrangements to supply the best health nutrients (12). The suggestions by the World
Health Organization (WHO) should be followed where WHO has made a global strategy to be
observed worldwide based on Diet, Health and Physical Activity. Through these marketing
campaigns, one would be able to understand the need for healthy eating and the promotion of
physical activities (15). The food system change will need to comply with the needs of the well
being of the health of the common people. The food products should be fresh and healthy. The
government should not give the authority to any private organization because it is the sole
responsibility of the federal government to ensure the well being of the people. The retail food
stores must sell the food products that are only approved by the government.

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Review of the evidence of the risks
The policy decisions being taken in the earlier times should be evaluated and risks should be
found out. This will help the food industry to take all the necessary and essential actions indeed.
Thus, they will require mitigating all the risks since these risks will impede the success of
national food policies (9). Apart from underweight, underweight and obesity issues, the chances
of heart diseases have increased a lot as well. The Australian Dietary Guidelines speak of the
intake of healthy foods since this will prevent heart problems among the people. It has been
found out that around 600,000 Australian people suffer from ischaemic heart diseases (21). The
risk factors should be controlled under the national food policy so it will reduce the chances of
several bugs in the society. Around 52% chances of coronary heart diseases, 38% chances of
stroke, 37% chances of cancer in many parts of the body, 34% chances of diabetes, 12 % chances
of prostate cancer, 2% chances of stomach cancer, 8% chances of lung cancer and 29% chances
of bowel cancer could be taken care of. This is how all the risk factors can be dealt with (10).
Benefits of the policy actions
The rates of the obesity had been very high among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
islander people in the country. It was recorded much higher than that of the non-indigenous
people in the country (22). Therefore, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not
been able to get the healthy foods like the plant-based foods, fruits and vegetables. This might be
due to their poor economic conditions indeed. In some groups of Australian people, it has also
been noted that they lack the vital nutrients like iron, iodine, folate, vitamin D and others. The
primary objective of the government will be to find out these people having the lack of these
nutrients (10). Thus they will be able to have better health conditions in terms of supply of
nutrient foods.

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Organization of the policy actions
It has been acclaimed that the effect of optimum nutrition is beneficial for the excellent
health of ordinary people. Therefore, people must understand that three orders of the food system
change should be made properly so the sustainable benefits can be found out properly. The
government should always aim for the development and growth of the infants and the young
generation in the country (11). The food system should always be compatible with environmental
sustainability by all the means. This will in fact increase the quality f life by all the factors. This
will prevent all the human beings from all sorts of chronic diseases, premature death and obesity.
The government should do the formulation of the national food policy because the government
possesses the ultimate power to do this (22).
Formulation of policies and system changes
In the case of the system changes in the food order, some determinants should be dealt with
utmost importance (12). The ethical issues about food should be tackled with the utmost
importance in this regard. The affordable food supply must be provided to the people so they can
access it at any point in time. This is indeed one of the basic features for the overall success of
the food policy in Australia. The amount of food needed for the Australian people daily should
always be available (13).
The system changes in the food policies comprise of the three stages. The first order
change is adjust, the second order change process is reform and the third one is transform. In the
first phase, the technical inefficiencies will be found out within the system design. In the second
process, the problems and its causes will be addressed. It will be helpful for the further

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consideration. In the third stage, the problem will be accepted and remedies should be found out
on the basis of the social, political and economic ideals.
The cultural, social and economic agendas regarding food can then be sorted proactively
within the society. The food safety must be procured, and the Federal Government of Australia
must take the necessary actions to promote the dietary intake of foods in the society. The
political gains are also associated with this type of promotional activity (13). Many companies
have tried to add the vitamin elements in their food products and sell it by highlighting these
components.
The public feedbacks should be collected by the government and they must make strict
policies on the distribution of the food products through the retail markets. The government
should assure the citizens that no harm is being done to them. All three steps of formulation,
implementation and evaluation should be done solely by the government departments.
Government officials shall visit the farms where the food products are being produced. The
percentage of the food ingredients should be fixed and production of foods should be carried out
with te strict vigilance of the government. Finally, the evaluation of the policies should be done
on the basis of its success on an annual basis.
Sometimes, many adverse impacts have been noticed in this scenario, as well. This is
probably the very reason as to why the organizations should ask for the permit from the food
department. The food and nutrition system in Australia depends on four subsystems or elements.
These elements are production subsystem, distribution and processing subsystem, consumption
subsystem and nutrition subsystem (14). The factors that are entirely associated with it are

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generally the social, environmental, economical and most importantly, the health benefits of the
common people in the society.
Tables and figures

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