Food Policy: Integrating health, environment and society

by Tim Lang, David Barling, Martin Caraher

Overview

For over half a century, food policy has mapped a path for progress based upon a belief that the right mix of investment, scientific input, and human skills could unleash a surge in productive capacity which would resolve humanity's food-related health and welfare problems. It assumed that more food would yield greater health and happiness by driving down prices, increasing availability, and feeding more mouths. In the 21st century, this policy mix is quietly becoming unstuck. In a world marred by obesity alongside malnutrition, climate change alongside fuel and energy crises, water stress alongside more mouths to feed, and social inequalities alongside unprecedented accumulation of wealth, the old rubric of food policy needs re-evaluation. This book explores the enormity of what the new policy mix must address, taking the approach that food policy must be inextricably linked with public health, environmental damage, and social inequalities to be effective. Written by three authors with differing backgrounds, one in political science, another in environmental health and health promotion, and the third in social psychology, this book reflects the myriad of perspectives essential to a comprehensive view of modern food policy. It attempts to make sense of what is meant by food policy; explores whether the term has any currency in current policy discourse; assesses whether current policies help or hinder what happens; judges whether consensus can triumph in the face of competing bids for understanding; looks at all levels of governance, across the range of actors in the food system, from companies and the state to civil society and science; considers what direction food policies are taking, not just in the UK but internationally; assesses who (and what) gains or loses in the making of these food policies; and identifies a modern framework for judging how good or limited processes of policy-making are. This book provides a major comprehensive review of current and past food policy, thinking and proposing the need for what the authors call an ecological public health approach to food policy. Nothing less will be fit for the 21st century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191015717
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	03/19/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Tim Lang has been Professor of Food Policy at City University's Centre for Food Policy in London since 2002. He was appointed Natural Resources and Land Use Commissioner on the UK Government's Sustainable Development Commission in 2006. He is a regular advisor and consultant to the World Health Organization at global and European levels. He has been a special advisor to four House of Commons Select Committee inquiries (food standards [twice], globalization and obesity). In 2005-06, he chaired the Scottish NHS Executive's Scottish Diet Action Plan Review. In 2005-08, he worked on the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) 'Food Supply in the 21st Century' programme. He is a Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. He is co-author of 'Food Wars', 'The Atlas of Food' and 'The Unmanageable Consumer'. David Barling is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Food Policy at City University London. His research focuses on: the governing of the agri-food sector and of the food supply in relation to sustainability; and the politics of food standards setting at global, EU and national (primarily UK) levels. He has written numerous book chapters and journal articles on food policy. Externally, his appointments include: the expert advisory panel for the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit project on Food Policy 2007-8; the British Standards Institute Committee AW/90 Quality Systems for the Food Industry (co-opted); UK Government's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Organic Action Plan team for England 2001-8; the Council of Sustain (the UK alliance of food-related NGOs) and chair of Sustain's Good Food on a Public Plate Project (public procurement of sustainable local food) 2006-8; and the editorial board of the international journal Agriculture and Human Values. Martin Caraher is Reader in food and health policy in the centre for Food Policy at City University. He originally trained as an environmental health officer in Dublin. After working in the north west of Ireland he developed an interest in the public health and health promotion aspects of the work. He completed his Masters and doctorate in London, and since 1990 he has been working with Prof Tim Lang on aspects of food policy and helped establish the Centre for Food Policy 15 years ago at Thames Valley University and is now located at City University. He has worked extensively on issues related to food poverty, cooking skills, local sustainable food supplies, the role of markets and co-ops in promoting health, farmers markets, food deserts&food access, retail concentration and globalization.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xiii

1 Introduction and themes 1

The perspective 1

Cross-cutting themes 8

Outline of the chapter structure 16

2 Defining food policy 21

Charting the terrain of food policy 21

Disciplinary traditions 23

Four phases in the evolution of modern food policy 27

Turning the fundamentals of ecological public health into goals for food policy 46

The emerging agenda 52

3 Public policy and governance 65

Analysing public policy: some key definitions, concepts and relationships 66

Power relationships and public policy 69

The state, governance and policy networks 75

Food governance 77

Multi-level governance of food policy 82

Food policy change 95

4 Nutrition 101

Why nutrition matters 102

Three nutritions: life science, social, and ecological 116

Policy responses to nutrition evidence 121

Nutrition institutions and champions 129

5 The supply chain 143

The structure of modern food-supply chains 145

National policies within an international policy context 149

Strategic problems arising for ecological public health 157

Power, concentration and control 164

Are supply chains addressing ecological public health? 175

6 The environment and ecosystems 187

The problem 187

The impacts of our food supply on the environment and the ecological constraints 189

Reframing environmental policy and food 200

Policy and governance responses to food, the environment, and ecosystems 207

7 Behaviour and culture 223

Food as culture 225

Food culture: a contentious concept? 228

Culture, cuisine and food as metaphors 230

Food as morality and control 232

What is in a meal? 235

Culturalspeed-up or lock-in? 237

Domestic labour in preparation and cooking 242

Multiple meanings: where are food cultures headed? 243

8 Inequality, poverty and social justice 253

What's the problem? 254

How to measure food poverty? 258

Solutions: who should do what? 266

Food movements and food democracy 278

9 On what terms ecological public health? 297

Tectonic plates shifting 297

Accountability: the political issue 304

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

"In Food Policy: Integrating Health, Environment, and Society, Tim Lang et al. analyze and effectively illustrate the increasing complexity and tension between environmental and social-ecological issues and their connections to food policy. In doing this they provide copious evidence of the shortcomings of contemporary food policies across the globe. They identify problems and discuss solutions that would move global food policy toward an 'ecological public health' model that acknowledges food as an important intersection of society, economy, and culture." — Michael J. Miller, Agriculture and Human Values

From the Publisher