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Making food poverty history

Issued : Wednesday 18 April, 2007

Food Poverty affects up to 20% of the Irish population who do not receive adequate nutrition. It is a problem that affects rich and poor alike. However, the elderly, children, Travellers, the unemployed, asylum seekers, and the disabled are particularly susceptible to Food Poverty. Current Government initiatives do not address the prevalence of Food Poverty amongst at risk groups or amongst the general population in a co-ordinated or effective fashion.

Food Poverty: What the Labour Party will Do

• We will develop Ireland’s first multi-sectoral policy on Food and Nutrition. This policy on Food and Nutrition will not just take into account the needs of obese children (as current Government nutrition policy does), but also the needs of other categories of people susceptible to experiencing Food Poverty, such as Travellers, women, the homeless, the unemployed, the elderly, rural dwellers, migrants and the disabled. • We will ‘nutrition’ proof all relevant Government policies.

• Labour in Government will extend the provision of free meals, which fulfil evidence-based nutritional goals to every primary school child and every secondary school child in Ireland who needs them.

• We will identify the gaps within which voluntary groups are not providing school meals and meals-on-wheels and initiate the provision of food itself where such gaps exist.

• We shall set minimum nutritional standards for each meal delivered by statutory or voluntary services, targeted at those at risk of Food Poverty. Hospital food, meals on wheels, school provided food will be required to be of a nutritional content which is consistent with guidelines, if that food is a person’s only nutritious food that day. The implementation of the HACCP system for “Safe Food” by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in collaboration with the Health Boards’ Environmental Health Service represents a model for the implementation of minimum nutritional standards.

• Labour in Government will concentrate on combating the inequities in food distribution which are a dominant determining cause of Food Poverty in Ireland. Under the next Labour Government, the Department for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development would, in cooperation with the Minister responsible for Food Safety and Nutrition, consider questions about the impact of its food production policies on consumption patterns and Food Poverty in Ireland, as a part of every funding decision it makes.

• We shall introduce a “Food and Health and Action Plan” to benefit groups most at risk from poor health through dietary deficiency by addressing the issue on a number of levels: at the level of food production, manufacture and preparation; at the level of promoting awareness of the benefits of accessing healthier food by, among other things, providing information for consumers about what constitutes healthy eating and nutrition.

• We will carry out detailed investigations to develop and implement policies and strategic plans for the people who form part of the groups most susceptible to Food Poverty.

• We will provide school children all over Ireland with at least one piece of fruit a day.

• We shall generate maps at the level of every local authority in Ireland which contain information about, for instance, distance to shops, travelling time and ease of use, cost and availability of healthy food and which employ quantitative and qualitative survey instruments with Geographic Information System software to map the extent of Food Poverty in Ireland, before we can address it in all its dimensions.

• We will investigate the feasibility of rolling-out programmes which teach basic cooking skills and increase knowledge about food to everyone who would like to avail of such programmes.

• We will also explore the feasibility of policies through which shops in areas of Food Poverty would, in fulfilling certain conditions relating to the cost and availability of certain foods, might be entitled to rates’ discounts.

• We shall expand the Food Bank system so it manages surplus, as well as contributions under the social contribution scheme model (eg. allowing donors to commit to supply goods of a specified value and allow the Food Bank to select from among their products those most appropriate to meet the needs of its clients).

• Promote the existence of community led food gardens/allotments/local food co-ops, local transport systems, community cafes.