Senator Fiona Nash we want to know what is in our food

MEMO to Senator Fiona Nash: food companies need to lift their game and make delicious, healthy products, without lacing them with sugar, salt and fat.

SO how are those New Years’ resolutions going?

Did that resolve to quit sugar and go to the gym every day melt as fast as those M & Ms in your hand?

Me, I’m lucky. For the first time I can remember, I didn’t make any resolutions this year.

Through hard-won experience, I’ve learnt that the only way to manage your weight is to maintain constant vigilance to eat a diet containing an amount of energy equal to your daily energy need.

So simple in theory. Oh so hard to achieve in daily life.

Economists like to imagine that we are rational, walking-talking human calculators, capable of making decisions that maximise our happiness and health at every turn.

But as it turns out, we make terrible decisions when it comes to food.

Why?

First, we suffer a fundamental information asymmetry. It’s hard to know exactly what is in what we eat. Yeah, sure, there are nutrition panels, but current food labels can be overwhelming and the standard “per cent of daily intake” guidelines can be wildly misleading given that people’s individual energy needs vary so widely by age, sex, height and weight.

A survey by consumer group Choice found almost two thirds of Australians had never heard of the daily intake guide anyway.

But we also make bad decisions because that’s what food companies want us to do.

Studies have shown that calorie dense and nutritionally sparse foods like butter and oils are cheaper than calorie sparse and nutritionally dense foods like fruit, vegetables and meats.

No wonder the food companies pack out our foods with the cheaper crap to maximise our desire for the food and their own bottom lines (at the expense of ours).

Did you know, for example there are about 10 teaspoons of sugar in every can of coke? Maybe you did, but did you know there can be about six teaspoons of sugar in a tub of “low fat” yoghurt?

Yes, it’s low fat, but you get caught out by the sugar.

So, what if somebody came up with a food labelling system that was simple, easy to use and gave consumers a bit of a leg up when it came to making better food choices?

What if it provided a simple rating, out of five stars — like for movies or hotels — to tell us which foods were healthiest, based on their concentrations of sugar, salt and saturated fat?

What if, along with the stars, the new labels contained clear information bout how much energy was in each packet?

That’d be great right?

Well, I’ve some good news and some bad.

The good news is that exactly such a system has in fact been designed over the course of two years of careful study and consultation by a committee of health, industry and consumer groups.

Earlier this month it was read to go public with a website to enable industry to calculate their own star ratings and begin voluntarily display them on packaging.

For reasons that are the subject of close parliamentary scrutiny, assistant health minister Fiona Nash had the site pulled within hours of it going live.

News_Image_File: Strong action needed ... Senator Fiona Nash, Assistant Health Minister, pulled down a highly promoted food rating website within 20 hours of it going live.

It has since been reported that her chief of staff Alastair Furniva’s wife Tracey Cain heads a public relations company which has lobbied for food companies.

FIONA NASH DEFENDS CHIEF OF STAFF OVER WEBSITE PULL DOWN

News_Rich_Media: Senator Fiona Nash defends her chief of staff during Senate Question Time, in regards to reports of conflict of interest in his links to a lobbying firm representing the junk-food industry.

Whatever the exact circumstances that lead to the site being pulled, it is abundantly clear that big food companies, as major employers and donors, will always carry a big megaphone when it comes to influencing public decision making. No food company wants a one star or half star rating for their product.

But the irony is that this is exactly the stick food companies need to begin lifting their game. To make delicious and healthy products, without lacing them with sugar, salt and fat, to get a higher rating.

By making food information more transparent, we can actually change the food supply.

Yes, there are costs for business in relabelling products, but the scheme, as proposed, is voluntary and the benefits to the public purse of greater public health are potentially very great.

Obesity is shaping up as not only our most pressing public health policy issue, but as one of our most important economic challenges too.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We always like to know what our readers think. Tell us your thoughts below

Governments around the world are considering heavy handed solutions like taxes on unhealthy foods. Given that these tend to hit low income earners the hardest, I tend to prefer greater regulation of junk food advertising, positive subsides for fresh foods and better food labelling.

Because ultimately what you put into your mouth is a choice that only you can make. Empowering consumers to make better food decisions is the best solution we have at the moment..

But thanks to government dithering and the power of the food companies, those New Years’ resolutions might have to wait another year.

Jessica’s new book “The Bottom Line Diet: How I lost weight, kept it off, and you can too” has been publish by Allen & Unwin