Jamie Oliver has his eye on Tassie for healthy eating initiative

CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver is ready to tackle Tasmania’s obesity crisis and will seek State Government backing for his Ministry of Food healthy eating program.

Jamie Oliver wants to tackle Tasmania’s obesity problem and will seek State Government backing for his Ministry of Food healthy eating program. Picture: SUPPLIED

CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver is ready to tackle Tasmania’s obesity crisis and will seek State Government backing for his Ministry of Food healthy eating program.

The UK superstar’s Australian representatives, The Good Foundation, have met with Health Minister Michael Ferguson and will formally apply for funding under the Healthy Tasmania plan.

Oliver’s Learn Your Fruit and Veg program will be offered to the plan’s Student Health Initiative, due to begin in schools next year.

The world renowned Ministry of Food will apply for funds from the Healthy Tasmanian Communities Innovation Pool grants program next year.

“There is a need here and we believe we sincerely have a program that speaks to and responds directly to some of the strategic imperatives that the Government has outlined,” Foundation CEO Felicia Mariani told the Sunday Tasmanian.

Mr Ferguson launched the Healthy Tasmania Five-Year Strategic Plan in July, boosting preventive health spending by $6.4 million.

The plan targets obesity and smoking, with the bold aim of making Tasmania the nation’s healthiest state by 2025.

Sixty-six per cent of Tasmania’s adult population, up from 38 per cent in 1990, is overweight or obese, while the figure is 30 per cent for children.

The Public Health Association’s Tasmanian president Gillian Mangan welcomed the move, but said Oliver’s call for a sugar tax should also be heeded.

“It would be really good if the minister was brave enough to call on his (interstate) health minister colleagues to actually implement a sugar-sweetened beverage tax,” she said.

Learn Your Fruit and Veg, a food literacy program for 6-14-year-olds, has been trialled in Victoria but could be rolled out fully for the first time in Tasmania.

The Ministry of Food is a seven-week basic cooking skills course, which 32,000 people around the country have already completed.

Four fixed and two mobile kitchens have been established across each of the other states, with participants covering topics from budget shopping to pasta-making.

Ms Mariani said evaluations of the programs showed participants continued to eat more fruit and vegetables and less fast food six months after their course.

“It's not doing any of us any good that we are investing in treating the symptoms,” she said.

“We have to start making an investment in treating the cause.

“It is quite amazing to think that we are raising a generation of children who will not have the skills to cook in the kitchen.”

Jamie Oliver has long been courted by Tasmanian foodies and local salmon producer Huon Aquaculture is a partner in his Australian programs.

The star chef is yet to visit the state but Ms Mariani said that could be on the cards.

“That might be a nice surprise,” she said.

“Our board has been passionate about coming to Tassie for some time.

“It is the piece of the puzzle that’s missing for us.”

Mr Ferguson said he would welcome Oliver’s application.

“Though no funding is currently being provided under the Healthy Tasmania initiative we encourage new ideas, providing they can demonstrate value-for-money outcomes as per the process outlined in our plan,” he said.

Originally published as Jamie Oliver has his eye on Tassie for healthy eating initiative