Open letter: There is an urgent need for the State to regulate the agri-food sector more strictly to ensure healthy and sustainable food for all
Madam Prime Minister,
This summer, the government will define its National Food, Nutrition and Climate Strategy (SNANC), which will guide France’s food policy for 2030. The stakes are immense: our food plays a major role in climate change, the collapse of biodiversity and the explosion of chronic non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, cancers, etc.). These pathologies first strike the most precarious people, while it is estimated that at least 8 million people are today in a situation of food insecurity in France.
The causes of these problems are known: intensification of agricultural and livestock systems, multiplication of the supply of ultra-processed foods and products that are too fatty, too sweet and too salty, omnipresence of advertising and marketing for products of poor nutritional quality and for industrial meat, exposure to endocrine disruptors, difficulties of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and more broadly to organic, local and seasonal products… Yet, despite these systemic factors, public policies continue to be based on the “voluntary commitments” of companies in the food sector and on the myth of the “responsible consumer” who alone would have the power to bring about in-depth changes in the practices of the giants of mass distribution and the food industry.
In this context, we, learned societies, associations of consumers, families, young people, patients and all users of the health system, farmers, health and medico-social professionals, protection of the environment and animal welfare, and actors of solidarity, urge the government to learn from the failure of past policies. In order not to be another missed opportunity, the National Food, Nutrition and Climate Strategy must apply the convergent recommendations issued by multiple independent bodies (ANSES, National Food Council, Court of Auditors, France Strategy, Public Health France, etc.) and integrate the demands of civil society.
This Strategy must first of all clearly set out ambitious and precise objectives for the transition of our food, concerning:
- Increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts.
- The increase in the consumption of products from agroecology, in particular organic and seasonal products, grown and produced in France.
- The decline in the consumption of products that are too fatty, too sweet and too salty, as well as that of ultra-processed products.
- The decline in the overall consumption of meat (poultry included) and dairy products.
To achieve these objectives, it is essential that the National Food, Nutrition and Climate Strategy plans structural policies along the food value chain, from agricultural and agri-food production to consumption and distribution. and out-of-home catering. In particular, it must:
- Make access for all to healthy and sustainable food a priority and put in place concrete measures to achieve this objective, in particular by giving the power to act to the most socially precarious populations.
- Strengthen economic support for the collective catering sector as well as for farmers to support them in the transition.
- Program binding measures to improve the food supply and environment, including as a priority the ban on advertising for products harmful to health and the planet, the Nutri-score obligation, the supervision of large-scale distribution and the establishment of genuine environmental labeling also indicating the farming method.
- Increase the means dedicated to education (particularly in schools), to the training of health professionals and to raising the awareness of the entire population about healthy and sustainable food.
The necessary transition to sustainable food cannot be made without mobilizing and supporting all citizens and all agricultural, agri-food and food distribution players. We therefore call on the government to resist pressure from certain agricultural and agri-food lobbies and to follow the recommendations shared by scientists and civil society so that the National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate is up to the challenges. environmental issues, social justice and public health, in the interest of citizens and future generations.
Signatories
Action against Hunger – ADEIC-ULCC – Addictions France – Acting for the Environment – Alert of Doctors on Pesticides (AMLP) – Planetary Health Alliance – Alternatiba – Altrimenti – Vegetable Plates – French Association of Dieticians-Nutritionists (AFDN) – Association Santé Environnement France (ASEF) – Bee Friendly – Bioconsom’acteurs – Organic Fair Trade in France – Good for the Climate – Canteen without Plastic – CIWF France (Compassion in World Farming) – C2DS (Committee for Sustainable Development in Health) – CLCV ( Consumption, Housing, Living Environment) – Collective I Am Childcare Nurse – Collective Les Pieds dans le Plat – National Collective of Obese Associations (CNAO) – Collective Peps’l – Fair Trade France – Trade Union Confederation of Families – National Council of Secular Family Associations (CNAFAL) – Declic – Families of France – Rural Families – Addiction Federation – French Federation of Diabetics – National Federation for Health Education and Promotion (FNES) – National Federation for Organic Agriculture (FNAB) – Foundation for Nature and Man (FNH) – Foodwatch France – France Nature Environnement (FNE) – Future Generations – Greenpeace France – Humanity and Biodiversity – Young Doctors – Friends of the Peasant Confederation – Friends of the Earth – The Greniers d’Abondance – League against cancer – League against Obesity – Inter-regional movement of AMAP – Rural Movement of Christian Youth (MRJC) – myLabel, partner of your food transition – Noé – National Observatory of Vegetable Foods (ONAV) – Oxfam France – For an ecological awakening – Climate Action Network – CIVAM Network – Health Environment Network – Student Network for an Ecological and Solidarity Society (RESES) – French Network for Education in Nature and the Environment (FRENE) – Resistance to Advertising Aggression – Wake – Francophone Society of Health and Environment (SFSE) – French Society of Public Health (SFSP) – French Cancer Society – SOL-Agroecological and Solidarity Alternatives – Earth and Humanism – UFC-Que Choisir – Union of Groups of Social and Solidarity Grocery Stores (UGESS) – National Union of Family Associations (UNAF) – VRAC France (Towards a Common Purchasing Network) – WECF France (Women Engage in a Common Future) – Welfarm.
PDF of the open letter for a real National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate