Tackling the new materialities: Modern food and counter-movements in Ecuador

Faced with rising non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the Ecuadorian Government has proposed a model health program targeting individual and environmental level determinants. Drawing on cosmopolitan social theory, the experiences of counter-movements and concerns over food policy, the authors explore how mass pesticide poisoning and obesity can be viewed as the product of the ‘success’ of the modernization policy as well as a specific range of global phenomena configuring civic activity and policy situations. Through the study of NCDs as an emergent social field, the authors examine historical developments and heterogeneity in peoples’ practices for insights on more practical and effective public policy responses. The rise of the consumer–citizen in counter-movements represents a paradoxical, but promising dynamic capable of reconstituting economies, culture, and society. In Ecuador, social action appears to be a largely neglected and under-utilized resource for tackling NCDs and perhaps other highly pressing and seemingly intractable food policy concerns.     

A ‘Common Food Policy’ for Europe: How governance reforms can spark a shift to healthy diets and sustainable food systems

More than half of adults in the European Union (EU) are now either overweight or obese (53%). Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), many of which are diet-related, account for 70% of mortality in Europe and a growing share of healthcare costs. While eating habits have an important role to play in NCD prevention, consumption patterns across the EU are diverging significantly from recommended diets. There is growing consensus on the solution: a series of coordinated and wide-ranging policy interventions to build healthy ‘food environments’.This article argues that EU governance structures remain ill-adapted to the systemic nature of this and other challenges in food systems (e.g. climate change, biodiversity loss, food poverty): conflicting objectives and missed synergies are identified between different policy areas (agriculture, trade, health, environment, etc.) and between different levels of governance (EU, national, local). An integrated food policy framework – a ‘Common Food Policy’ – is therefore required to meet the EU’s public health and sustainability objectives. It identifies four distinct aspects of the governance shift required to promote healthy diets and build sustainable food systems in Europe: (i) coherence across policy areas; (ii) coherence across governance levels; (iii) governance for transition; and (iv) food democracy. Blueprints for a Common Food Policy are already emerging, and are ripe for consideration, development, and implementation by the European institutions.     

Consumer trust in the food value chain and its impact on consumer confidence: A model for assessing consumer trust and evidence from a 5-country study in Europe

In order to measure consumer trust in food chain actors and its impact on consumer confidence in food and the technology with which it has been produced, a model was developed relating social trust, beliefs in trustworthiness, overall trust in food chain actors, and confidence in both the supply of food products and food technologies. Data were collected via an online survey in five European countries. Analysis provided support for the model and showed that consumer confidence is largely determined by consumer beliefs about the trustworthiness of food chain actors. In particular the beliefs about openness, and especially about the openness of food manufacturers, are strongly related to consumer confidence. Some national differences in trust and confidence exist. This instrument is shown to be suitable for monitoring the development of, and changes in, trust across countries over time.     

Advancing the evidence base for public policies impacting on dietary behaviour,physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Europe: The Policy Evaluation Network promoting a multidisciplinary approach

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of global mortality. As the social and economic costs of NCDs have escalated, action is needed to tackle important causes of many NCD’s: low physical activity levels and unhealthy dietary behaviours. As these behaviours are driven by upstream factors, successful policy interventions are required that encourage healthy dietary behaviours, improve physical activity levels and reduce sedentary behaviours of entire populations. However, to date, no systematic research on the implementation and evaluation of policy interventions related to these health behaviours has been conducted across Europe. Consequently, no information on the merit, gaps, worth or utility of cross-European policy interventions is available, and no guidance or recommendations on how to enhance this knowledge across European countries exists. As part of the Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL), 28 research institutes from seven European countries and New Zealand have combined their expertise to form the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN). PEN’s aim is to advance tools to identify, evaluate, implement and benchmark policies designed to directly or indirectly target dietary behaviours, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour in Europe, as well as to understand how these policies increase or decrease health inequalities. Using well-defined evaluation principles and methods, PEN will examine the content, implementation and impact of policies addressing dietary behaviour, physical activity levels and sedentary behaviour across Europe. It will realise the first steps in a bespoke health policy monitoring and surveillance system for Europe, and refine our knowledge of appropriate research designs and methods for the quantification of policy impact. It will contribute to our understanding of how to achieve successful transnational policy implementation and monitoring of these policies in different cultural, demographic or socioeconomic settings. PEN will consider equity and diversity aspects to ensure that policy actions are inclusive and culturally sensitive. Finally, based on three policy cases, PEN will illustrate how best to evaluate the implementation and impact of such policies in order to yield healthy diets and activity patterns that result in healthier lives for all European citizens.