The important role of food composition in policies and programmes for better public health: A South African case study

•Food composition data is important for policy development.•Availability and official access to local data is critical.•Misreporting can have a costly public health impact.•Regulations require data for design and enforcement. Most governments have committed to the set of Sustainable Development Goal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food chemistry 2018-01, Vol.238, p.94-100
Main Authors: Schönfeldt, Hettie C., Hall, Nicolette, Pretorius, B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Diet
Food
Food composition
Food Supply
Policy
Programmes
Public Health
South Africa
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Summary:•Food composition data is important for policy development.•Availability and official access to local data is critical.•Misreporting can have a costly public health impact.•Regulations require data for design and enforcement. Most governments have committed to the set of Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations (UN) to be achieved by 2030. Subsequently the governments have drafted, or are in process of drafting, policies and programmes which aim to answer to these global requests. South Africa provides a unique case study: despite economic growth, undernutrition has not improved when compared to other industrialised nations, while at the same time, diet-related non-communicable diseases and obesity have exponentially increased. Access to healthy food is a constitutional right of all South Africans, and towards increasing food security and improving population health, various policies, programmes and regulations have been developed and implemented by the government to rectify the situation. The paper presents an overview of food composition within these public health policies, programmes and regulations and unpacks the important role of accurate food composition data.
ISSN:0308-8146
1873-7072
DOI:10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.12.067