Fast food is undoubtedly delicious, but it’s intake also leads to excessive consumption of fried foods, sugars, fats and sodium present, things that we are recommended to lower before a nutritional consultation.
Therefore, it is substantial and a priority to insist on education and dissemination of healthy eating practices to raise awareness and encourage the acquisition of healthier habits.
Let us think of the example of those countries that have achieved it, or in principle, are working hard to promote State policies that favor the intake of quality food. Japan is one of them.
Beforehand, it is important to highlight that East Asian societies have undergone a strong modernization and Westernization that has fully affected their lifestyle and this had a direct impact on their diets: the increase in purchasing power (and therefore the possibility of acquiring all kinds of food or going out to eat regularly), long working hours and, as a consequence, a sedentary lifestyle. These are just some of the factors that have had a direct impact on the nutritional changes in these societies and the appearance of related health problems.
Faced with these risks, a nation like the Japanese enacted the Shokuiku Law on food education in 2005, which requires educational institutions to instruct students on how to interpret nutritional information, such as knowing what our nutritional needs are , what to look for on food labels, understand how what we eat is produced and how to preserve it, among other important knowledge to improve daily consumption practices.
The regulation aims to promote the health of people in body and mind, with greater emphasis on the importance of food and its effect and also make known the complete cycles of food by teaching new habits, such as complying with a balanced breakfast , avoid fast food and prepared meals, or at least not eat too much and encourage family gatherings when sitting down to dinner or lunch.
Today, Japan boasts one of the most balanced diets in the world, which has ensured high levels of health and longevity in the general population.
The example of diet and education in Japanese is key to understanding the importance of changing life, work and leisure habits, with healthier actions. And it is not something exclusive to developed societies, we can all make small changes, starting from home.
Food import problems in China
China is a huge market for the food industry with a rapidly growing middle class. Consequently, the food supply chain in the Asian giant is overloaded to supply the 1.4 billion inhabitants of the country.
The growth forecast for East Asia by the Asian Food Bank, which includes China, has been lowered from 4.7% (at the end of 2019) to 3.8% for this year, as a result of the pandemic and of restrictive policies on imports due to the reinforced food security of the power, together with protectionist policies. And this contributes to a significant increase in the price of food.
According to specialist Scott Rozelle, a professor at Stanford University, “China depends on imports for approximately 10% of its food. That is very high compared to other countries.”
“China’s problem is that it continues to act like a small country. Their policies often have the desired effect at home, for example by reducing input costs for industry or for one group of Chinese farmers or increasing profits for another. But they can also beggar thy neighbor, as China chooses the policy that solves a domestic problem by shifting its cost to people elsewhere,» said Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) analysts Chad Bown and Yilin Wang in a note to the Argentine site Infobae.
While inflation in China has been relatively subdued this year, as strict covid-control policies and sporadic outbreaks curtailed consumer and business spending, since April food prices have risen 4 .7% monthly.
The index prepared monthly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) closed the month with an increase of 33.6% compared to 2021.
Also for South Asia, which includes Sri Lanka, a bankrupt country in political crisis, the bank lowered its forecast to 6.5% from 7%.
In its food outlook report for 2022, the FAO (which is the acronym that represents the Asian Food Bank) expressed its concern and warned that «it will force the most vulnerable countries to allocate larger budget items to the food category without that will improve the access of their population to food and nutrition”.
The intervention of the World Bank is essential to promote food and nutritional security during the food crisis, through policies that tend to reduce the impact of malnutrition. As of 2020, about 22% of children under five were stunted, with almost three-quarters of them concentrated mainly in much of the Asian continent: Central and South Asia (37%) and sub-Saharan Africa (37 %).
The growth outlook for India was also lowered, to 7.2% instead of 7.5% as estimated in April, amid monetary tightening and higher-than-expected inflation.
Following major strict lockdowns in much of the world simultaneously in 2020, most economies recovered quickly (according to IMF forecasts), but it is hard to tell how long it will take for the food supply to return to normal. pre-conflict state.
The impact on the rest of the countries (in terms of the effects of lower quantities to import) is not yet clear.
The food supply in Latin America
In Latin America, as a result of the successive crises in the various economies and a greater need for access to food at lower cost, China’s global character is affirmed, and it continues to expand its presence on the continent.
Although the region has long been plagued by corruption, inequality and a crisis of confidence, trade between the countries of the region and the Asian power soared between 2002 and 2021, going from 18,000 million dollars to almost 449,000 million, driven in part by free trade agreements with Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.
Then China, which is a key producer of fuel and food, can fill the significant gaps left by Europe in the Latin supply chain.
“The approach of the People’s Republic of China, conducted primarily through its SOEs and other commercial entities, is to secure access to resources, food, and strategic markets and technologies, and to realize the greatest possible share of the value associated added value through cross-industry coordination and a series of anti-competitive behaviors,” says author Evan Ellis, author of China Engages Latin America.
For the author, who is a research professor on Latin America in the U.S. Army War College, «the economic difficulties related to COVID-19 have elevated the importance of the People’s Republic of China as a buyer of Latin American minerals and food, while those economic needs have given Chinese decisions to lend or invest money in the region an added weight in the PRC’s negotiations with Latin American governments”.
In terms of cooperation, it is about encouraging agreements between the different governments within the framework of transparency, equal conditions and the solidity of the institutions.
Natalia Denegri is an Argentine actress, television host, producer and writer, residing in Miami, United States.
Natalia Denegri is an Argentine actress, television host, producer and writer, residing in Miami, United States.
