I am very pleased to be visiting Malta in the run-up to the country’s presidency of the council of the EU, taking place during the first six months of 2017. I will be discussing many subjects of common interest with the health and agriculture ministers, but for this article I would like to focus on three in particular: obesity, food waste and animal welfare.
Let me start with obesity. This is a rising concern in the whole of the EU. Malta is particularly affected, with over 50 per cent of Maltese women and nearly 70 per cent of men overweight or obese. I am especially concerned that one in three children in Malta is classified as obese.
Children who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk of poor health later in life. Every year, 2.8 million EU citizens lose their lives to weight-related diseases. In addition to preventable suffering, there is a serious financial impact. EU countries dedicate an estimated seven per cent of their healthcare budgets to treat weight-related problems specifically, and 70 to 80 per cent on treating chronic diseases in general.
Unless we start raising a generation where healthy food and physical activity are engrained as habits from a young age, we will raise a generation of children who are ‘fat for life’ and health systems that are struggling to cope.
My message to all member states is to work together, learn from each other and develop common evidence-based strategies to curb the rising rates of obesity.
We will only succeed in reducing obesity in Europe when healthy food is available and affordable at each local supermarket
We need to work across national borders and across policies to make healthier options more available, improve the nutritional quality of food and reduce ingredients such as salt, sugar or trans-fatty acids through food reformulation.
We will only succeed in reducing obesity in Europe when healthy food is available and affordable at each local supermarket and when there are facilities in place to make exercise an easy and affordable option for all.
While rates of obesity are increasing across the world, a disturbing paradox is that globally 800 million people are suffering from hunger. This brings me to the topic of food waste.
Food waste is a phenomenon I could never have imagined when I was growing up. I was born in a Siberian gulag – where wasting even a crumb of bread would be unthinkable. Today around 88 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in the EU. While people still go hungry, such waste is unethical and indefensible.
Food-waste prevention is an integral part of the Commission’s new Circular Economy Package, designed to reduce waste, strengthen resource efficiency, boost global competitiveness, foster sustainable growth and generate new jobs.
Fighting food waste requires concrete action on the ground by all players. I want to raise awareness about this topic during my visit in Malta. Grassroots-level initiatives by ordinary citizens, restaurants, food businesses and charities can make a real difference.
At the same we have defined a precise action plan at European level to help member states achieving the ambitious goal of halving food waste by 2030 in line with the recently adopted the Sustainable Development Goals.
In this respect we are working on a common methodology to measure food waste consistently, and later this year, we will establish a platform involving both member states and actors in the food chain in order to help define the measures needed to achieve the food waste Sustainable Development Goal. I consider the semester of the Maltese presidency as a crucial moment to step up our efforts in this area.
Let me end with a subject that EU citizens hold dear: animal welfare. A recent Eurobarometer on this subject revealed that Europeans attach a great deal of importance to the question of transport and the definition of international standards.
Maltese citizens were more likely than the average EU citizen to agree that they would pay up to five per cent more for products sourced from animal-welfare-friendly production systems (47 per cent vs 35 per cent).
I look forward to working closely with the Maltese presidency to establish the EU platform on animal welfare. Such a platform would contribute to better enforcement of EU legislation on animal welfare, allow for the exchange of best practices, scientific knowledge and innovation and promote animal welfare in Europe and beyond.
An important issue related to animal health and welfare is antimicrobial resistance. We need to keep antibiotics effective, for the sake of both animal and human health. To this end, the Commission has introduced a proposal on veterinary medicines and medicated feed in 2014. I count on the Maltese presidency to make progress on this important file.
I am sure to have many more visits during the Maltese presidency in the first semester of 2017, where these and other important health and food safety initiatives can be discussed further.
Vytenis Andriukaitis is European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety