Four food-policy advocates called on presidential aspirants to spell out their views on a coordinated U.S. food policy with the intention of declaring a National Food Policy within weeks of taking office in January 2017. “Production and consumption of food has a bigger impact on Americans’ well-being than any other human activity,” write Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Ricardo Salvador and Olivier De Schutter on the web site Medium, so it deserves as much attention as the military or health care.
The group first raised the idea of a White House-directed food policy nearly a year ago in an op-ed. They say the op-ed elevated the issue and now is time for the next step — putting food policy on the agenda for the incoming administration. “The first is to call on all candidates running for the presidency to put forth their own NFP.”
Federal policy on food and health is splintered among federal agencies and there is little motivation for reform among lawmakers, the article says. “But there is something the next president can do to break that deadlock: In the first State of the Union address, announce an executive order establishing a national policy for food, health and well-being,” with a White House council to bring a uniform approach to a systemic problem. Obesity and diet-related chronic diseases are on the rise, climate change may constrain food production, and the government must assure a safe food supply and prevent degradation of farmland.
“This policy will be organized around the paramount objective of promoting health - that of our citizens and of the environment – at each link in the food chain, from the farm to the supermarket, to our schools, home tables, and even restaurants,” says their vision of a presidential order.