Food environments in Malta: Associations with store size and area-level deprivation

Food environments are potential targets for interventions to reduce obesity prevalence, particularly in island settings that are typically dependent on food imports. This observational study aimed to characterise the availability, quality and price of foods and beverages in a nationally representative sample of grocery stores in Malta using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Stores (NEMS-S) instrument, and to examine the association between area-level density of different types of food stores and the likelihood of children living in these areas being overweight or obese. Fieldwork was carried out between March and May 2014. There was a strong positive correlation between store size and NEMS-S score (p = <0.001), suggesting that smaller grocery stores generally offered a smaller range of products and fewer healthy food/beverage options than larger supermarkets. Across all stores, median prices of certain ‘healthier’ versions of foods were more expensive than their less healthy alternatives. A significant association between risk of childhood overweight, and density of confectionery stores in children’s locality of residence, was found (OR 1.19; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.37). These baseline findings highlight opportunities to improve the food environment in Malta to support more healthful eating, and may be of particular interest to public health practitioners in island settings.     

Food and nutrition policy formulation: A Delphi approach to establishing basic principles

The authors describe the results of a multidisciplinary, international Delphi inquiry carried out to establish basic principles for food and nutrition policy formulation. A working vocabulary is established, preliminary assumptions are set up, and controversial topics are defined. The inquiry resulted in a consensus on several policy statements which can serve as guidelines in the development of flexible food and nutrition programmes.     

A mechanisms-based explanation of nutrition policy (dis)integration processes in Uganda

Many African governments have recently invested in strengthened nutrition policy integration to address malnutrition; as a step towards realising the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 2. Previous studies have identified various factors that enable or constrain how nutrition integration occurs across policy sectors. However, the explanatory value of these studies has remained relatively limited, as the causal processes through which independent variables affect policy outcomes remain unelucidated. This paper addresses this gap by applying a causal mechanisms approach to investigate the processes that explain observed patterns of nutrition policy (dis)integration in different ministries in Uganda. We employed a process-tracing research design to reconstruct the context-mechanism configurations that explain the observed patterns of nutrition integration in Uganda between 2000 and 2017. Data was collected from interviews with 34 respondents, various policy and programming documents, and a focus group discussion. Our analysis reveals that increased nutrition policy integration is explained by four causal mechanisms: (1) international policy promotion; (2) issue promotion by international actors; (3) issue promotion by domestic policy entrepreneurs; and (4) instrumental policy learning. Conversely, two mechanisms led to policy disintegration: (1) leadership contestation; and (2) turf wars. All mechanisms proved activated by configurations of contextual conditions that were time- and organisation-specific. This study showed how a mechanisms approach can provide a more refined understanding of policy successes and failures in nutrition governance. Whereas integration-fostering mechanisms cannot be automated, both government and international actors working to scale up investments in nutrition need to consider and invest in the contextual conditions that allow for sustained nutrition policy integration and, ultimately, a more effective delivery of nutrition services. These include developing leadership for nutrition at different governance levels, domestic ownership and integration-fostering capacity, and supporting policy-oriented learning.     

Food policy, nutrition planning and survival : The cases of Kerala and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka and Kerala enjoy mortality conditions that are unusually favourable in light of their limited per capita income. To what extent can food policies and nutrition planning efforts account for this? An examination of the available evidence suggests that food and nutrition policies taken by themselves can probably explain a part, but only a part, of the favourable health status achieved. Much more important is the way in which food and nutrition efforts have served as central integrating themes for a wide range of development activities directed toward the alleviation of poverty.     

Food inspection and EEC policy

A European study of the organisation of efficient food inspection systems is needed before more radical changes in national inspection systems are attempted through harmonisation in the EEC. The author discusses food inspection in the Netherlands, the present state of harmonisation and the problems arising from it, paying particular attention to meat and meat products. Difficulties arise when veterinarians are given exclusive responsibility for policing regulations.     

Food aid and food policy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has now replaced India as the most publicized large scale recipient of food aid, importing 1.67 million tons of food grains, four fifths of which were on concessional terms, in 1977/78 (July to June). Some analysts, extrapolating from the poor performance of the agricultural sector up to the mid 1970s, also project that Bangladesh will be one of the largest importers of foodgrains in a decade's time merely in order to maintain current pitifully inadequate levels of nutrition.¹ Yet so far there has been no open debate or systematic attempt to analyse the impact of food aid on the Bangladesh economy, compared with the controversy and intensive analysis of food aid to India. This article² is intended to demonstrate the seriousness of this gap in the literature. It includes a review of provisional evidence on the role of food aid in the Bangladesh economy during the first quinquennium of ‘planned’ development, 1972/3–1977/8.     

Towards a food and nutrition policy in Tanzania

Fragments of a nutrition policy are seen throughout the different phases of Tanzania's modern history. Efforts of the pre-Independence period culminated in formation of a committee on nutrition which advocated improving food storage, food legislation and standardization, and nutrition education. After independence, an initial period of concentration on cash crops was followed by increased cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, and some nutritional surveys were undertaken. After the Arusha Declaration in 1967 a basic needs strategy giving greater stress to food production and adequate nutrition received emphasis, and a Food and Nutrition Centre was established with 4 departments: food science and technology; manpower development; medical nutrition; and planning and coordination. Emphasis on production is reflected in a target of reducing malnutrition by 30 to 50% in every region by 1981, and an interdisciplinary approach is being used to achieve this goal. The basic similarity in proposed activities during the various phases of Tanzania's history indicates that political will is necessary for carrying out the policies.     

Implementing the World Food Summit Plan of Action: organisational issues in multi-sectoral planning

Despite current ideological and philosophical objections to planning, it survives in new forms, generating Policy Framework Papers, Poverty Assessments or multi-sectoral Action Plans to implement the resolutions of international conferences. The World Food Summit Plan of Action will generate a new wave of such plans. History shows that the road to multi-sectoral planning is littered with organisational elephant-traps. The traps can be avoided, however, by learning the lessons of past experiments with multi-disciplinary or multi-sectoral planning. The literatures on integrated rural development, multi-sectoral nutrition planning, farming systems research, national food security planning, poverty planning and industrial organisation are all of help. They suggest that the key is to establish a task culture, characterised by co-operative goal definition, a high degree of participation, supportive leadership, and strong integration of planning and implementation. A ten point action plan is derived from these principles for follow-up to the World Food Summit.     

Food prices and food policy analysis in LDCs

Opinions have been polarized on the role of food prices in economic development. Structuralist analysis argues that food prices are irrelevant to long-term development, but neoclassical theorists believe that food prices may be a critical factor. This article attempts to reconcile these views, reports on the differential impacts of food prices in Indonesia and discusses the role of food prices in the policy process.     

Norwegian nutrition and food policy: Consumer information and price policy aspects

In 1975 the Norwegian government approved a formal national nutrition and food supply policy. The author examines two aspects of the policy, consumer information and food prices, by discussing what actions have been taken to achieve the goals set out. Some reasons why they have not been fully reached, including conflicting interests with food producers and political trade-offs, as well as the implications for the future of the policy are also discussed.     

Food policy and the new home economics

The author summarizes the basic structure of the new home economics and makes a comparison with the standard economics of the consumer. He develops a measure of the quantitative importance of home production activities based on data from several studies of time allocation and on detailed data from a recent Philippine study The implications of the new home economics for leisure, work, food supply, family size, education health and food policy are discussed.     

US farm policy in perspective

At the end of 1981 the US Congress passed new farm legislation which was widely hailed as a success for the Reagan administration's efforts to contain the escalation of farm supports, it now appears, however, that it has created serious problems in a situation of rapid agricultural productivity growth in the face of slower growth of domestic and foreign demand. Despite subsequent amendments to limit budget outlays, farm support costs are now estimated at $12 billion each in FY 1982 and 1983 and $7 billion in FY 1984, as compared with original projections of less than $3 billion annually.     

Food policy in Africa — political causes and social effects

Food policy in Africa is derived policy; it is developed in an effort to solve the political and economic problems of persons other than fanners. Food policy is employed to obtain peaceful relations between governments and their urban constituents and to secure the allegiance of powerful elites. A major consequence is the transformation of social and economic patterns in the countryside.     

Food aid and nutrition: The case of Botswana

Food aid is widely used to stimulate and sustain nutrition projects. Christopher Stevens examines the link between the two by reference to a single case study. Botswana has received more WFP food aid per head than any other state, and has used much of it on continuous feeding projects. While the programmes are potentially very important for the poorest groups, they miss many who are in need. Nevertheless, they have achieved a good deal, possibly in ways that are not yet fully recognised, and represent an interesting use of foreign aid to support recurrent expenditure.     

食品中脂质提取方法研究进展

对20世纪80年代以来食品中脂质提取测定方法及应用进行了评述,重点介绍了氯仿甲醇法及其改进方法。     

National food strategies and food policy reform

National food strategies, sponsored by the World Food Council, are intended to produce policy blueprints for improving food production in poor countries. International experience with agricultural development discloses wide agreement on national and local policy specifics which should have priority. However, the absence of research into the political attitudes and processes which foster consensus on goals and the reconciliation of competing desirable policies, eg short term v long term, equity v efficiency, may impede the desired policy reform.     

Sustainability of food and nutrition security policy during presidential transitions

Developing countries with democratic governments periodically experience presidential transitions that affect political and institutional performance. Unforeseen uncertainties during transitions are not faced strategically and interrupt collaboration among country teams expected to jointly implement policies, including policies intended to contribute to food and nutrition security. In some low- and middle-income countries, these obstacles result in persistent hunger, malnutrition, and death mainly affecting the most vulnerable populations and contributing to unequal human development.We aimed to understand what mechanisms determined sustainability of Food and Nutrition Security Policy (FNSP) during presidential transitions, from socio-political and nutritional perspectives, in a Central American country that experiences a change of president every four years. Purposeful criterion and snowball sampling were used to recruit 52 policy actors from all relevant sectors and levels, elected or appointed, that had contributed to implementing the FNSP adopted since 2006. Data from semi-structured interviews were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Results were verified using content analysis for obtaining emerging themes in news, speeches, and documents.Twenty-four forces simultaneously shaped a dynamic process determining sustainability during transitions. The forces for sustaining FNSP were Backed Up, Beneficial, Championed, Importance, Institutionally Sound, Owned, Sensitive, Shared, Steady Resources, Strategic, Transition Effect, and Trusted. The forces for not sustaining FNSP were Antagonistic Underlying Structure, Campaigning, Dysfunctional Transition, Fractioned, Haphazard, Insensitive, Irrelevant, Misrepresentation, Neglected, Rivalry, Unsound Institutions, and Unsteady Resources. These forces determining FNSP sustainability during transitions were molded by the emerging reasons for sustaining and for not sustaining policy actions as reported by the study participants. The forces favored or impeded the sustainability of an action or part of it. The forces operated at all levels and sectors, but forces affected actions differently in these. The forces did not compete, but combinations of them brought about outcomes that policy actors in charge and their collaborators could intentionally influence. The potential of forces to shape sustainability of FSNP depended on interacting actors responding to emerging events within specific contexts. Roles performed by civil society, governmental officials, and international cooperation were critical for policy sustainability during transitions.These results are consistent with Lewin’s Force Field Theory on the complex dynamics embedded in intersecting forces within contexts and identify the specific forces that were operating. Although the 24 forces were identified in one context, the set of forces likely captures the range of forces that may operate in other similar political contexts. The knowledge that such forces may be operating could be helpful in ensuring sustainability of policies in the future. Actors and other stakeholders can identify the predominant specific forces operating for a policy and activate or promote the forces that enhance sustainability and deactivate or suppress the forces that inhibit sustainability. Foreseeing or creating opportunities to activate (or deactivate) and promote (or suppress) forces during the early stages of a presidential transition could help sustain policies and related practices that benefit food and nutrition security.