Recent decades have witnessed the rise of cheap, calorie-loaded diets in countries as diverse as the US, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. In the UK, the price of an ice-cream halved between 1980 and 2012 yet the price of fresh vegetables tripled, according to a recent study from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
Meanwhile, the relative prices for fruit and vegetables in the middle-income countries of Brazil, China, Korea and Mexico increased by as much as 91% between 1990 and 2012, while the price tag of processed foods fell by up to 20%, according to the ODI study.
These price shifts have coincided with a global obesity epidemic. The World Health Organisation has predicted that “if immediate action is not taken, millions will suffer from an array of serious health disorders.”
While policymakers, healthcare workers and NGOs have a critical role to play in addressing the connection between cheap food and obesity, so does business.
There’s no lack of nutritional information out there, from traffic light food labelling systems to healthy eating blogs, yet it’s often contradictory and not always without bias. While low price junk food continues to be readily available, what responsibility do food companies have around the production and marketing of cheap processed food? Should they be making nutritional value and calorie content much clearer? And as more big food companies attempt to up the health factor of their products, what opportunities are there for businesses to help improve consumer health?
We’ll be putting these questions to a range of experts – and we want to hear from you too!
Join the live chat
Join a panel of experts on Wednesday 8 July, 1-2pm BST, in the comments section on this page to discuss this topic.
Questions we’ll explore will include:
- What are the main challenges to overcoming unhealthy diets?
- How can manufacturers and retailers make it easier for consumers to make healthy choices? Are there good examples from which lessons can be drawn?
- What are companies doing to build healthier ingredients into their supply chains?
- Can technology make it easier for consumers to make healthy food choices?
- Does the debate need to be widened to focus on healthy lifestyles as well as food choices?
On the panel
Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign
Dan Crossley, executive director, Food Ethics Council
Sue Dibb, coordinator of Eating Better
Andrew Mullins, coordinator, Origin Green
Ellie Freeman, head of products, Graze
Ylva Johannesson, nutritionist and account manager at the Sustainable Restaurant Association
Leave a question now
You can submit questions for the panel in advance using the form below or tweeting them to @GuardianSustBiz using #askGSB.
