As Canada rapidly approaches what experts are calling a ‘health crisis,’ a new report issued by the Richard Ivey School of Business calls for a Canadian Food Strategy that fully addresses the health of Canadians and health opportunities for the agri-food industry by tying national health and economic prosperity to food.
David Sparling, Chair of Agri-Food Innovation and Regulation at the Richard Ivey Business School, understands what Canada faces in the coming years.
“Our activity levels are falling while our caloric intakes are rising. Increasing incidences of chronic disease and skyrocketing healthcare costs threaten to overwhelm provincial budgets,” says Sparling, arguing this looming disaster can be traced to a complex combination of food and lifestyle choices.
The problem is not insurmountable, however, a change will require a mixture of government, industry and social strategies. Although real solutions require long-term planning, there are immediate opportunities for coordinated and directed steps forward.
To help address the issue, Ivey hosted a policy workshop on the opportunity to develop an integrated health and food policy framework earlier this year. The workshop focused on how Canadians’ health can be improved through new products, research and communications, and on the policies and strategies through which government and industry can support this process.
The workshop brought together 80 policy-makers from health and agriculture, researchers, industry leaders and students to discuss and advise on strategies for developing and implementing effective policies to improve the health of Canadians through better food and food choices.
The report, “Food and Health 2010: Advancing the Policy Agenda,” released this week, calls for the creation of a Canadian Food Strategy to address the physical and economic health of Canada.
The report identifies six priorities necessary to make this strategy a reality. Recommendations include:
* Canadians need to shift their thinking beyond single nutrients to overall diets and how they relate to lifestyles
* Involving all stakeholders, from industry to government to NGOs, in developing national food strategies and policies
* Supporting additional food and health research
* Make healthy food decisions the easy food decisions for consumers through
* Make healthy food accessible
* Link health strategy and business strategy
“The workshop and report prove that we can get health and food industry professionals to identify solutions to this critical issue. Now we need to turn these ideas into policies and industry action,” says Sparling.