Healthy diet

Do you get your recommended 400g?

Food accounts for a significant share of household expenditure on goods and services, consequently, food prices influence food choices, and therefore our diet. 

Low income households in Europe have a tendency to avoid what they consider to be the most expensive food, such as fish and fresh fruits and vegetables. The majority of European do not consume the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended daily 400g of fruit and vegetables (excluding potatoes and other starchy tubers).

This alarming trend - exhibited in a relatively well developed region of the world - is mirrored on a global scale. The health implications of a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables is clearly illustrated in a WHO estimate that up to 2.7 million lives could be saved each year if fruit and vegetable consumption were to be sufficiently increased. Fruits and vegetables do not only provide energy, their nutritional content helps prevent illness and chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Ensuring available and affordable food

Ensuring that the food we require for a healthy and balanced diet is both readily available and affordable is key to reducing hunger and the occurrence of the diseases associated with a poor diet. The UK Food Standards Agency states "by protecting crops, pesticides help to provide a plentiful supply of food all the year round. If pesticides were not used, this could affect the availability and prices of food". Without the use of pesticides we could experience between a 50 and 75% loss of crop yield per year - this will only increase the prices of food, and certainly reduce variety and availability.

The current economic downturn has given rise to the 'recession diet', a term describing a reduction in household expenditure on food - something that in most cases will have negative consequences on the quality of an individual's diet. 

To offer society access to a healthy diet, efforts must be made to ensure that fresh fruits and vegetables are affordable. European Commissioner John Dalli (Health and Consumer Policy) explained, "Efficient and innovative plant protection is one of the key factors in producing safe and healthy food at a reasonable price. This is to the benefit of consumers, farmers and industry across Europe".

The right to food is a human right

Food sustains life, and a balanced diet helps control health. Food security, the ready availability of nutritious food and the health that it promotes, are often taken for granted in Europe, with little thought given to the processes and practicalities of modern food production - farming.

The definition of food security has been refined in the recent years. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (as defined during the World Food Summit 1996), food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Four key parameters form the definition of food security:

• Food availability: sufficient quantities of food.
• Food quality: safe and nutritious food.
• Food affordability: quantities of food affordable for all.
• Food predictability: quantities of food available at all times. 

The latest FAO statistics estimate that hundreds of millions of people live in hunger or lack a suitable supply of food. Moreover, the global population is set to increase to 9 billion people by 2050. In order to meet the demand and reduce global hunger (as targeted by the UN Millennium Development Goals) all efforts must be targeted to increase food production by sustainable means. Pesticides can help achieve this.

Pesticides, a tool for food security

By keeping crops free of pests and diseases, pesticides help to ensure a reliable and predictable food supply. Crop losses due to pests and diseases are between 30 and 50% depending on the crop grown. For example, the losses of wheat yields could reach 50% if no pesticides were used; for potatoes, the losses can reach up to 75%.

Pesticides limit food losses and make significant contribution to food security.