Editorial

The European Union is realising that dietary habits are having a direct negative impact on society. The soaring levels of obesity in Europe are contributing to an ever-increasing incidence of avoidable cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

In an attempt to halt and reverse this worrisome trend, the European Commission proposed an EU-wide scheme to provide free fruit and vegetables to schoolchildren.

The scheme also requires participating member states to set up national strategies that include educational and awareness-raising initiatives on the vital importance of sound nutritional habits.

The Minister of Resources and Rural Affairs Minister, George Pullicino is very enthusiastic about the programme and gives it his full backing. The Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Joseph Cassar, yesterday attended an activity themed Tomorrow We Grow: The Smart Healthy Way Activity during which primary school students and parents received free fruit.

Unfortunately, Malta has higher than average levels of obesity. It will therefore be singled out for immediate attention and can tap into 75 per cent of the funds allocated before the academic year of 2009/2010.

These types of programmes sound laudable and will have the immediate beneficial effect of promoting local agriculture. However, the problem of obesity in the Western world is complex and has deep-seated roots.

In fact, since its inception, EU agricultural subsidies, although done with good intentions to secure food security, have played a considerable role in corrupting the food chain. Most of the subsidies have ended up in promoting the industrialisation of food production, resulting in a huge and relentless reduction of rural communities and small-scale farming that are traditionally the source of fresh and wholesome food.

The prevailing state of the food business has been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands with the result that an ever-increasing proportion of our nourishment comes from processed foods that are laced with unhealthy additives and excessive levels of fats, sugar and salt.

Also, this type of food production is not sustainable in the medium to long term. With the looming energy crisis and the negative impact of the unprecedented profusion of junk foods, the manner in which the EU manages the agricultural and food sector deserves a radical analysis.

The diminishing role of the housewife and the increasing reliance on fast foods has also contributed to an alarming decline in healthy dietary habits that predominated in the not-so-distant past.

There are extremely powerful vested interests that want to preserve the status quo. Yet, reforming the agricultural sector and what we eat will be one of the most crucial global challenges that Malta, along with the rest of the western world, can ill afford to neglect.

Agricultural subsidies that soak up most of the EU's taxpayers' money need a complete reappraisal.

Meanwhile, wholesome food production and the preservation of our farming community have to be high on the government's agenda and this also applies to the preservation of soil, water and even our fish stocks.

Although a small positive step on its own merits, providing free vegetables and fruit at schools will not address the deep-seated causes of bad dietary habits.

One hopes the government will not rest on its laurels and stop there.