If you were to redesign our food system to provide enough healthy, nutritious food for everyone, what would it look like? That's the premise of the latest issue of the Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, which includes contributions from leading thinkers on why public health goals must be integrated into agriculture and food policy.
IATP's David Wallinga, M.D., contributed to the journal's overview as well as a chapter on safety (or lack thereof) in our current health system. IATP's Mark Muller, along with Angie Tagtow, Susan Roberts and Erin MacDougall, offers ideas on how local, state and national policies could better support healthier food systems. The journal also includes contributions from leading researchers Mary Story, Michael Hamm and Tim Lang among others.
Reforming national policy is one place to take these ideas forward. House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson has announced he is already planning hearings in the spring to consider new ideas for the 2012 Farm Bill. The Child Nutrition Act is expected to come up for reauthorization in the next month or two, offering another opportunity to expand access to healthy food in school lunch programs.
But one of the common themes of the contributors is that there are public health benefits to food systems that are more community and regionally-based, and that local actions are essential for building a healthier food system. This remarkable issue of the Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition shows us what is at stake, and what is possible.
