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1: Biological Background of Nutrition | 2: Nutrition, Health and Disease | 3: Food and Animals | 4: Choices in Food Consumption | 5: Food, Population and Resources |6: Sustainable Food Production Conference abstracts 1.
BIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF NUTRITION Stephen Boyden The introduction of farming, urbanisation and especially industrialisation are very recent events in the history of our species. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers for thousands of generations before some of them took up farming as a way of life around 400 to 500 generations ago. This fact has important implications for human health and for our understanding of the nutritional needs of humankind. There is no diet better for any animal than that to which it became adapted through evolution, and in our case this is the typical diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Human culture, through its influence on human behaviour, has brought about many deviations from this natural diet, often leading to malnutrition and ill health. This paper gives some examples from the past and present. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maurie Ryan Japarta Human life before Europeans a) Importance of harmony (land and humans) b) The impact of colonisation c) The environment
d) Destruction of land, sea
Life before European contact and the dispossession of the Native Indigenous Australian Aboriginal has had a lasting effect on the health of the original inhabitants of the country. To understand the complex issue between the Indigenous Australians of the country and our relationship to the land and sea. We have to have an understanding of knowledge of Aboriginal Culture. This is only one aspect of Aboriginal Culture that has been in place for thousands of years - Aboriginal to the land and sea and vice versa. This land belongs to the different tribes and also the clan group - the clan groups who are the traditional owners of that area and must protect and take care of the land and in return it takes care of you in providing food and shelter - we have cultural obligations to the land for future generations. 1. The Importance of harmony (humans to land - land to humans) 2. The environment The environment in the past The impact on the
environment The impact of colonisation Colonisation has had a destructive impact on the Native Indigenous Australian throughout every State and Territory of Australia. The final impact
of the reliance of processed food. 38% of Indigenous people now suffer from
diabetes. Destruction of land and sea - rivers The land has been and will always be an integral part of Aboriginality. Dispossession of lands in this country has destroyed tribe after tribe - through creed the greatest land grab this world has ever seen. Destruction of Native Indigenous Australian lands is nothing more than mass genocide. Mass genocide also to the plants, animals and insects that inhabited the land. The seas have also been used as dumping grounds for rubbish and sewage. The rivers that once flowed and sustained life are now polluted and choked and saline ridden. 1. Poisons have
been used far too much - such as fertiliser. Bush food versus store foods The impact on the
Native Indigenous Aborigines of processed foods has been very dramatic - the
hidden fats and sugars in these foods have created many problems especially
diabetes. Spiritual value to land The land my mother - a terminology used many times by the Native Indigenous Australians of this country. The land has provided for centuries the basic needs of the Native Indigenous Australians - that has been food and shelter. For generations
and generations the Native Indigenous Australians worshipped the land. Importance of food Food is not only
for consumption, there are cultural obligations in sharing certain foods and
what can be eaten by certain age groups and gender. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neil Thomson The current nutritional status of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples makes a substantial contribution to the poor health status of Indigenous people - `our single most spectacular failure as a nation' (the Commonwealth Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Honourable Dr Michael Wooldridge). The main expressions currently of the poor nutritional status of Indigenous people are high death rates for coronary heart disease and diabetes, and substantial evidence of both under- and over-nutrition. This presence of these diseases and over-nutrition would have been virtually non-existent in the distant past and appear to be a relatively new phenomenon. The factors contributing to current nutritional status are complex, and must be viewed within an historical context. These factors include socioeconomic, physical environment and geographic aspects. Wide-ranging nutritional strategies complemented by committed holistic approaches addressing the factors contributing to current nutritional and health status are needed to overcome the substantial disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allan Fox 1. Australia, the Aboriginal habitat is created Evolution of the Australian bush and its diversity, habitat of the Aborigine and source of the bush tucker. 2. Aborigines in the Bush System Who are the Aborigines - their adaptation to Australia and development of their cultural characteristics - their relationships with the habitat - social and ceremonial responsibility. 3. Two economic zones within the System a. A Tropical Coast
community b. A Central Desert community Characteristics of the human desert habitat - rain, the dominant limiting factor in the habitat - human adaptation of social and individual behaviour to live within the limitations of habitat - `fire stick farming' - variety of food from the plant resources. 4. Concluding remarks The impact of the `new' lifestyles on the long tried and tested lifestyles. What can be gained by reflection - responsibilities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paula Fitzgerald Over the past months, gene technology has continued to receive much interest, in the general community, in schools and across local government areas. Many councils have held meetings to discuss the issue of genetically modified (GM) crops undergoing field trials in regional areas. How does a GM product reach the field? What is a field trial? How is gene technology regulated and what safety assessments exist? This paper aims to address these issues and provide an overview of gene technology in Australia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Phelps We could well be witnessing an end to the short and chequered history of genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) - at least in food, farming and cloning. Bob Phelps tells how gene-tech companies and governments are losing public confidence and why their plans to industrialise all living beings - microbes, plants, animals and humans - are being rejected globally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Leeder Advocates for genetically
modified foods often assert that the processes of laboratory genetic engineering
are really no different from those that occur naturally with plant and animal
husbandry. This argument does not have the convincing impact that they expect.
Those who express concern about GM food safety claim that genetic engineering
allows humans to do what nature will not and they worry when scientists cut
and paste genes. Now we have the skill to transfer genes between species. This
raises new safety questions making the production and marketing of GM foods
a matter for consideration by public health authorities. We simply do not know
what the long-term effects of genetic modification of crops and consumption
of genetically modified foods will be, either on human health or on the ecological
environment. We should make strong efforts to put studies in place to find out. 2.
NUTRITION, HEALTH AND DISEASE Colin Butler Most Australians are vaguely aware that we share this planet with a very large number of undernourished people. Whether that number is 30 or 100 times the Australian population is a matter of definition and uncertainty. What is more certain is that recent policies have fuelled global nutritional inequality. Economic and political leaders rarely risk embarrassment by drawing attention to nutritional inequality. When they do, consciences are appeased by claims that hunger-reduction targets will soon be met, and that the correct strategy to achieve this is more economic growth. It was not always so. The disasters of the early 20th century were followed by a period of comparative co-operation, post-WWII. Both communism and capitalism competed to win the hearts and minds of people in the South; the Green revolution was called thus to contrast the red revolution it was intended to prevent. There was broad agreement, in rich, poor, and socialist countries, of the importance of global family planning. Inequality fell in many western countries, and it may have fallen globally; primary health care, foreign aid and an emphasis on education led to substantial health gains in Africa. Then, around the mid 1970s, progress stalled. Wealthy populations converted to a swag of once-discredited economic policies; many poor populations were forced to follow. Our brave new world is one of entitled and unentitled, payers and losers, diabetic and xerophthalmic. Even worse may lie ahead, as climate change and water insecurity compound the risk of not just malnutrition but frank starvation. Policies which
sustainably improve nutrition for the poor cannot be separated from policies
which reduce inequality. Growth is not enough. Wealthy populations can either
retreat further to a life of passive, well-fed virtual reality, or leave their
couch to exercise a moral and practical leadership which befits their privileged
nutrient status. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis Wilson Obesity is defined in terms of body mass index (BMI) which is weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. A BMI of 18.5 - <25 is normal, 25 - <30 is overweight and _ 30 is obese. The prevalence of obesity in Australia has doubled for men in the past 20 years and tripled for women. Twenty per cent of the population are now obese. Lifestyle changes leading to reduced exercise are the main reasons for this. Obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, is associated with increased prevalence of a number of other illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer. Prevention and treatment are important to try to avoid these. Type 2 diabetes is the common form of diabetes in Australia. Its prevalence has doubled in the past 20 years and the increase parallels the increase in obesity. The association with obesity has been recognised for a long time but the mechanism of the association is unclear. The newly described hormone resistin which is secreted by fat cells and produces insulin resistance may help clarify the issue. The major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetes is vascular disease and up to 75 per cent is due to cardiovascular disease. In Australia up to 30 per cent of patients in coronary care units have diabetes, more than 30 per cent in renal dialysis programs are diabetic as are up to 50 per cent in rehabilitation services following stroke and lower limb amputation. Diabetes remains the most common cause of blindness in people under 60 in Australia. With the current epidemic of both obesity and diabetes this situation is only going to get worse unless there is a significant change in health care policy to fund prevention and early intervention rather than continuing to pour vast quantities of resources into the management of end stage disease. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark L Wahlqvist Environmental integrity, where Homo Sapiens sapiens can live with an adequate, healthful and sustainable food supply, where other forms of life are valued and respected, where population density, housing and recreation do not irreversibly degrade or render unsafe that environment, and where natural surroundings and development are harmonious and inoffensive, is increasingly difficult to achieve. The problems for food and health with uncertain environmental integrity are ones of food insecurity, in quantity, quality, safety, and variety, lack of realization of the socio-behavioural roles of food, and food component (essential and otherwise) inadequacies and energy (calorie) imbalance, compounded by restraints and disincentives for physical activity. The fundamental eco-nutritional issue for health is that biodiversity is retained for food sufficiency and variety and that environments are safe and conducive to social, mental and physical activity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Louise Bartlett Australians over 65 account for 12% of our population. The Dietary Guidelines For Older Australians were released in 1999. They provide a framework for good nutrition practice amongst healthy independent older Australians. The guidelines aim to maintain and improve the nutritional status of older Australians so that they might enjoy independence and prevent illness and premature death. The current generation of older Australians can expect to live on average 18 years from the age of 65; and those 18 years should be spent in good health, enjoying all that our planet has to offer. In summary, the
12 guidelines are: At first glance this list can seem pretty overwhelming. However, the guidelines are practical in their approach and with a little thought and planning it is quite possible to adopt them successfully. The paper explores how this can be done within the everyday living of our older Australians. It also touches on `getting the balance' for the 30% of older Australians who would say they do not enjoy good health including the 7% who find that they are unable to maintain an independent lifestyle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basil S Hetzel Iodine deficiency is considered the most common cause of preventable brain damage in the world today. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 2.2 billion people at risk from 130 countries. An international expert network, the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) has played an important primarily scientific role in the global partnership in the initiation and monitoring of a global program of prevention with iodized salt and in providing scientific expertise since 1985. A Global Action Plan for the elimination of IDD was developed by the ICCIDD which proposed actions at global, regional and national level to achieve elimination of IDD as a cause of brain damage by the year 2000. In 1990, this plan was endorsed by the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the Executive Board of UNICEF. The WHA Resolution also called for elimination of IDD by the year 2000. The endorsement of the Global Action Plan was followed by the adoption of the goal of elimination of IDD by the World Summit for Children at a special meeting at the UN, New York (September 30th 1990). In addition to political support, a significant factor in the development of national programs has been a series of Regional meetings held by the ICCIDD with the support of WHO and UNICEF where a model for a National program has been developed to show its multisectoral nature. The preferred iodine technology on the grounds of effectiveness and cost has been universal salt iodization (USI). This means that all salt for human and animal consumption should be iodized, which requires legislation. No less than 105 of 130 countries now have national programs for the elimination of IDD with overall coverage of 2/3 of households with access to iodized salt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert H Loblay Being omnivorous has contributed significantly to the evolutionary advantages our species has enjoyed, enabling us to spread widely and populate the planet. However, this advantage comes at a cost, at least for some individuals within the population. Eating is an inherently dangerous activity. The immune system must provide protection from a wide range of potentially pathogenic microorganisms and toxins that can contaminate meat, other foods and water, a task that must be achieved without at the same time provoking immune reactions to food itself. This difficult balancing act works well for most - but not all - people. The cost of immune hyper-vigilance is the propensity to develop food allergies, which can sometimes be fatal. As herbivores, we also need to protect ourselves from an enormous number of chemical substances - "secondary metabolites" - that plants produce. To help deal with the daily chemical onslaught in our diet, we have evolved a number of behavioural, metabolic and other non-immunological adaptations that allow most of us to choose plant foods we can eat safely. Some people, however, are more sensitive to the adverse effects of various natural and added food chemicals. Clinically, this problem presents as food intolerance. Though unpleasant, inconvenient, and at times debilitating, this propensity can also have survival advantages for affected individuals and their offspring. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Barbara Eckersley Diet is known to play a critical role in cardiovascular disease, many types of cancer, stroke, hypertension, obesity, non-insulin dependent diabetes and many other chronic degenerative diseases. Health authorities have been recommending a balanced diet, rich in fibre, low in fats and containing fruits, vegetables and whole grains, to reduce the chance of developing cancer and heart disease. What is a balanced diet, and does it provide us with all the nutrients we need to remain healthy today? Modern agricultural practices, refining and processing of food are affecting the nutritional content of food today. Change in diet and lifestyle since the advent of agriculture means that modern diets are seriously out of synchrony with the requirements of our bodies, which are genetically unchanged since hunter-gatherer times. Recent research is providing new information about the connection between foods and disease (or health).Two new areas of research are particularly promising. In the last decade, scientists have discovered a group of compounds within fruits and vegetables that may promote health and may be used to prevent or even treat disease. These compounds, known as phytochemicals (phyto = plant), occur naturally in plants and are the biologically active substances that give them their colour, flavour, odour and protect them against plant diseases. Studies have consistently found that eating greater amounts of fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Research in a second area, the new field of glycobiology (`glyco'= sugar) has shown that cell to cell communication involves cell-surface carbohydrates. Scientists have identified 8 simple sugars that are essential to properly structured glycoproteins and optimal cell to cell communication. Modern diets only supply 2 of these sugars. These necessary sugars (glyconutrients) have, for example, major roles in modulation of the immune system, prevention of cancer growth and tumour metastases, in killing bacteria and viruses, regulation of insulin metabolism, calcium absorption, wound healing, arthritis and inflammation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vicki Deakin The incidence of foodborne illness has increased in Australia and worldwide. Recent reforms to the Australian Food Safety Standards, aimed at decreasing this incidence, have been introduced to address, improve and monitor the quality of food. These standards are targeted at all levels of the food production chain. But there is growing concern that food hygiene and safety practices of consumers after point of sale are questionable and need addressing. Although most consumers believe that their reported foodborne illness was caused by food prepared somewhere away from home, some food safety experts suggest that outbreaks in the home are far more common than recognised. Of concern is that consumers, particularly the younger generation, have poor familiarity with safe food handling practices and are becoming less skilled in the kitchen. Where do consumers learn about food skills? Primary school teachers have no or minimal formal education in nutrition or food science. High schools have shifted away from the traditional studies in Home Economics once compulsory in high schools until the late 1980s. Consumption of pre-prepared, ready-to eat and takeaway foods and eating outside the home has increased so there are less opportunities within the home for younger people to learn food skills from a parent. Identifying attitudes and behaviours of consumers in relation to food skills, food handling practices and other related risk behaviours is a key component to decreasing the risk of foodborne illness. With little data about the way Australian consumers handle food after point of purchase, changing this area of increasing concern will be a challenge for all of us.
Helen Scott-Orr Food from animals - meat, fish, milk and eggs - forms a key part of a balanced human diet. Australians have an overabundance of animal protein available, of excellent quality and price: many people still eat too much and thus consume excess saturated fat. However, our Asian and African neighbours still have high poverty levels with absolute deficiencies of calories, protein and essential minerals and vitamins in the diets of billions of people. Since Europeans settled Australia in 1788, its ecology has been irrevocably changed by people, animals, plants and other life forms from every continent on earth. Australia has vast areas of grassland suitable for extensive grazing by ruminants and marsupials. This grazing, if well managed, appears compatible with sustained native biodiversity. Cropping to produce grains for human and animal feeding can have a larger impact on the environment. Overgrazing by sheep and cattle was blamed for severe soil erosion, dust storms and environmental degradation in the first half of the 20th century. However, the rabbit was the greatest villain in this overgrazing, as these environmental indicators have progressively improved since the releases of myxomatosis in the 1950s and rabbit calicivirus in the 1990s. Food producing animals may harbour human pathogens. Sustained veterinary public health programs have developed preventive strategies for the major problems but new diseases emerge periodically. Intensive livestock production systems can lead to more rapid spread of pathogens, if not managed carefully. Longer distribution, storage and transport chains also create greater risk of bacterial multiplication before food reaches the consumer. Human pathogens carried by animals may pass through manure to contaminate soil or water. However manure is an important fertiliser which recycles nutrients, improves soil health and promotes healthy plant growth. Animals will remain an important human food source and Australia will continue to be a major world supplier of foods of animal origin, with ever more attention to food safety and environmental sustainability. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank Fenner Communicable diseases not only reduce the productivity of livestock operations, but may also pose health risks and considerable inconvenience to human populations. Rather than traverse the whole range of livestock diseases, I will concentrate on four diseases that have caused much concern recently: foot and mouth disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and nCJD, influenza and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7. Foot and mouth disease does not infect humans but has caused massive disruptions to meat production in several countries in Europe and Asia, BSE has seriously disrupted the beef industry in Europe, a new pandemic strain of influenza virus is an ever-present threat to humans and the recently recognized bacterium Escherichia coli O157:H7 has been detected in many species of animals used for food and causes serious disease in humans. The causative agents, clinical features and epidemiology of these diseases, and the reasons for their recent high profile in the media, will be described. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James Ridsdill-Smith Over the last 25 years total world crop production has increased significantly, but this has also caused an increase in vulnerability of production to pests, weeds and diseases. Insecticides are widely used because they give a generally predictable control of pests. In Australia it is estimated that pests infest 27% of the 18m ha of crop area. Total value of agricultural produce is $22 billion, and the value of the losses is $3 billion, and this is after treatment with insecticide. The need to control pests varies between crops, from 16% of the area treated in wheat and barley, 21% in sugar cane, 43% in chickpea and lupins, 80% in canola and field peas, to 100% in cotton, rice and sorghum. There are substantial post harvest losses due to pests, estimated to be 10% worldwide. However, increasing reliance on insecticides to control pests has also led to problems that threaten production, sustainability and the environment. To minimise these problems arising from excessive dependence on chemicals, farmers are diversifying their pest control. They are using integrated pest management (IPM) that has the aim to help keep pests below their economically damaging threshold, rather than seeking to eradicate them. Methods used include biological control, biotechnology, chemical control, cultural control, host plant resistance, physical control, pheromonal control and preventative control. Research is being undertaken to develop these technologies in Australia and deliver them in a form that farmers can apply. Control is more effective if it is based on a good understanding of the biology of the pest. New pests are continually arriving in Australia, and quarantine is being improved in order to keep further pests out, and prepare us for those that do arrive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Collignon Whenever antibiotics are used (in people or in animals) resistance to these antibiotics will eventually develop. The continued use of these antibiotics will also then accelerate the proliferation and spread of these resistant bacteria. The larger the amounts of antibiotics that are used, the faster the process accelerate. People can become colonised with bacteria that have spread across to them via the food chain (and in some cases, these bacteria will make them ill). Some of these bacteria are resistant to antibiotics that are "last line" agents in therapy of life threatening infections in people. The development and spread of these multi-resistant resistant bacteria (or "Superbugs") follows the use of "last line" antibiotics in food production animals. Examples of these bacteria include ciprofloxacin resistant strains of salmonella, ciprofloxacin resistant strains of campylobacter, as well as the vancomycin resistant enterococcal strains (VRE). If in the agriculture
sector, three basic principles of antibiotic use were adopted, then many of
the driving factors for this antibiotic resistance would be substantially reduced
or eliminated. This can be done without compromising the therapy of sick animals
or the economic production of animals. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bidda Jones, Sharelle Hart and Hugh Wirth Whilst consumers are increasingly asking questions about the impacts of food on our health and that of the environment, they are also beginning to question the treatment of the animals that are the source of much of this food. But what is the starting point from which we should gauge the ethics of a particular animal husbandry system? How do we decide what is acceptable animal husbandry? Within Australia and internationally there are basic laws which protect vertebrate animals from outright cruelty or neglect - ie the deliberate unnecessary infliction of pain or suffering upon animals. These laws impose upon us what can termed the social consensus ethic - ie a definition of right and wrong which is universally binding and agreed to by society1. On top of this we also impose, as individuals, what can be termed our personal ethic, and this provides us with a framework to guide behaviour that is not defined by laws or regulations laid down by our society. The distinction between these two ethics is not fixed. For example, areas of conduct that currently fall into the category of individual personal choice may in the future be considered as a social consensus ethic. Such a shift happens when public opinion embraces a previously minority held view. In the area of animal welfare, such a shift has begun and is starting to affect the laws and regulations that govern the way we treat our food animals.
Julie Smith Infant feeding is rarely considered as an economic issue. Many people, quite reasonably, would find the idea of placing a dollar value on mother's milk quite obnoxious. Yet in a world where not valuing something in dollar terms means not valuing it at all, this can have major consequences for the `market' for mother's milk, and for public health policy. This paper uses an economic framework to ask how we should value mother's milk, whether those in the 'infant food market' make informed and rational choices, and whether any such choices by individuals will necessarily produce socially optimal results. It discusses the methods and results of existing studies on the economics of breastfeeding, and the evidence on the relationship between breastfeeding and infant health. It also examines how the `market' for infant food operates. It concludes that the economic value of mother's milk is significant to the national economy in dollar terms. However, it is largely invisible to, and therefore undervalued by, public policymakers and health professionals. Infant feeding decisions are unlikely to be based on full information, and even if they were, may be socially sub-optimal because disadvantages of breastfeeding impinge mainly on the mother, while the major health savings from breastfeeding - or alternatively, the health risks of artificial feeding - mainly impact on government health budgets, and therefore the wider community. Also, adverse health consequences may not be apparent until many years later. The implications are that inadequate knowledge, and perhaps 'denial', of the health risks of artificial feeding by some health professionals and the community at large, allows the 'market' for mother's milk to be spoiled by inferior commercial substitutes. A `level playing field' for breastfeeding requires basing infant feeding decisions on `informed' choice. However, a level playing field in the infant food market also requires health professionals and governments to act positively as advocates for breastfeeding, not merely as apparently `neutral' agents, in order to counteract sophisticated marketing efforts of corporate `market competitors' to mother's milk. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosemary Stanton We all eat and many people therefore believe they must be good at it. In fact, when faced with literally thousands of food products, we do not always choose wisely. Increasingly we are in the hand of marketers who influence what we believe, what we buy and when and how we eat. Commonsense should alert us to the obvious sales pitch for the quick diet fixes and the downright ridiculous claims made for some products, yet scams and crazy diets continue to sell, making a mint for their promoters. One step up form this situation are claims about foods, nutrients and diets that may seem sensible because they use scientific-sounding jargon. Faced with claims that sound promising, and without specific and up-to-date knowledge of nutrition, many people spend their food money foolishly. Governments are failing to provide nutrition facts free of commercial influence. Some genuine scientific findings are skewed to promote particular products. Funded by industries whose main aim is to produce profitable value-(p)added products, some nutritional scientists try to produce packaged foods that can compete nutritionally with fruits and vegetables. It seems a futile game when commonsense would tell us just to eat fruits and vegetables. But who champions the carrot or the humble spud when they don't even have a label to list their glories? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Dack Foods that have not been a traditional part of our diet are known as novel foods. Novel foods are required by law to undergo a pre-market safety assessment by the food regulator, the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA). Genetically modified (GM) foods are novel foods. ANZFA is required to assess the safety of GM foods in a process that includes comparing their toxicity, allergenicity and nutritional value with the conventionally produced counterparts. ANZFA will not recommend approval of a GM food unless it is found to be as safe and nutritionally beneficial as the non-GM food. To date, ANZFA has received 22 applications for the approval of GM foods involving soy bean, corn, canola, potato, sugar beet and cotton. All but one of the genetic modifications have been related to the introduction of genetic traits to improve crop production characteristics, such as pest and disease resistance or tolerance to herbicides. To date, sixteen of these GM foods have been approved for sale. On 7 December 2001, a new regulation will come into effect which requires GM foods to be identified as such on package labels if the genetic modification appears in the final food. For example, oil made from GM canola will not need to be labelled because the distillation process removes DNA material. But GM soy in snack food will need to be labelled even if it appears in minute quantities. The only exceptions to this regulation will be food prepared and sold at point of sale (eg restaurants, fast food outlets) and GM flavourings, which are allowed to be present at a level below 0.1%. There is also a provision in the regulation for the unintended presence in a food of a GM ingredient to a level of 1%. Thus, the new regulation seeks to achieve two objectives: the protection of public health and safety, and the provision of information to enable the consumer to choose whether to eat GM or not. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Djordjevic The current Australian recommendations on healthy eating embodied in the Food Pyramid and the alternative 12345+ pyramid are designed to limit the intake of fats and sweets. Low fat foods are promoted and these form the lower tiers of each pyramid, which comprise predominantly of carbohydrates. These pyramid icons have gone a long way to raising people's awareness of the dangers of high fat diets rich in saturated fats. However, recent evidence has uncovered disturbing properties of some of the products that form the most prominent lower tier in both pyramids. This tier is comprised mainly of starch based foods (breads, cereals, pasta, noodles and rice, but should include potatoes too because of their high consumption in our diets). When compared to vegetables and fruits, these starchy foods tend to be (a) low in nutrient value, (b) high in glycemic index and (c) high in density. The combination of these features make the sugar content of the starch (which consists of simple sugar molecules of glucose linked together in chains) too readily available to the body. In fact, the sugar embodied in these starchy products are often more readily digested and absorbed into the body than the sugar present in table sugar. Therefore, if one considers table sugar "unhealthy" in large amounts, then many starchy foods should be considered in the same light. In essence, by recommending these foods in order to lower fat intake, nutritionists may have unknowingly "replaced one poison with another". High consumption of these foods may also contribute to the difficulty in burning fat stores from our bodies through the well-studied affects of high glycemic index foods upon insulin levels. Several other properties of starchy foods also make them poor choices compared to their cousins, the vegetables and fruits. One measure that could be adopted is to reverse the order of the carbohydrates in the lower tiers by placing vegetables first, then fruits followed by the starchy foods. This might also promote higher relative vegetable and fruit intake, as these foods are much lower in glycemic index, higher in nutrient value and lower in density. This measure, if adopted, could raise the health of Australians towards those of other healthier nations in the Mediterranean region of Europe where fruit and vegetable consumption is often much higher than in Australia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Reid Food marketing will undergo significant changes in the 21st century. The advent of new communications and food production technologies, together with increased living standards, active and information hungry consumers, and changing consumer lifestyles, will see improvements in food marketing and in the relationships between consumers and food marketers. At a global level food marketers will face a myriad of issues including the connected knowledge economy, globalising, converging and consolidating industries, fragmenting and frictionless markets, demanding customers and their empowered behaviour, and the need for more flexible and adaptive organizations. In response to global influences, consumers' food-related patterns of behaviour are shifting with obvious impacts on food consumption patterns, sensory needs, health concerns, convenience issues, and food safety. In Australia for
example, it is noted that food is playing a far greater role in entertainment
and socialising. At the same time, cooking at home is decreasing with an obvious
rise in eating out more regularly. In summary, food marketing encompasses a wide range of diverse food areas including new product development, food product promotion, health and cause related marketing, market development and market research to name but a few. This paper will focus on the consumer-marketer link and examine how changes in consumers' lifestyles will impact on the marketing and promotion of food products and on the role of the food marketer. The paper will further address the relationship between consumers, the development of market based assets, and improved stakeholder returns. Implications for the 21st century marketer will be outlined. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Louise M Burke, Gregory R Cox, Andrea Braakhuis, Michelle Minehan Diet and exercise provide the cornerstone of the lifestyle factors that help to determine immediate and long-term health. There is an interesting relationship between food and exercise; with some people "eating to exercise" and others "exercising to eat". Apart from the variety of direct physiological and psychological benefits, a commitment to regular exercise can have positive benefits on nutritional status. Increasing energy expenditure via exercise increases energy requirements, allowing a person to eat more food (energy) to maintain energy balance or a healthy body composition. The opportunity to eat more food increases the opportunity to consume greater amounts of the nutrients and important food chemicals that underpin good health. It also offers greater opportunity for the social and pleasurable aspects of eating. On the other hand, athletes and people who undertake sporting activities may look to their eating patterns to enhance exercise performance. Acute nutrition strategies, such as intake of carbohydrate and fluid before, during and after exercise, can directly enhance exercise performance by reducing or delaying the onset of factors that would otherwise cause fatigue. Such factors are most important in the competition arena. However, eating well in training assists the athlete to stay healthy and in-shape, and to optimise the adaptations from their training program. The principles of sports nutrition principles are underpinned by an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of exercise. Since they are related to basic principles of body function rather than the calibre of the person who is exercising, the goals of sports nutrition apply equally to the much larger number of highly motivated recreational athletes as they do to the elite performers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karen Cashel What we eat, when we eat and where we eat has changed markedly in Australia in the last 10 to 20 years, and the rate of change appears to be accelerating. The way we shop, choose and prepare foods has also changed. We have less time for these tasks but more choice of when and where we shop for our food. Supermarkets, fast-food outlets and restaurants have all extended their opening times. When we shop for anything, we are surrounded by food outlets (unless we are at home, using the Internet to order our groceries). We eat out more often, and are likely to find choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner - to say nothing of the numerous options available to satisfy our frequent snacking. When we do eat at home, we are more likely to be eating alone, or in the company of the TV. The food we are eating may have been ordered by telephone and delivered to our door. And not just `fast foods', we have a wide range of restaurants vying for our pick-up or delivered meal order. There are even reports of homes being built in Sydney without `proper' kitchens. We are cooking less often, spending less time in preparing the meals we do cook, and `who' is in the kitchen or supermarket is changing. Australians are aware and interested in the relationship between foods, diet and health. We are increasingly bombarded by a diversity of such information from many sources, frequently confusing and conflicting. The changes described are not unique to Australians. The potential positive and negative consequences of these changes for our health present a challenge to public health workers.
Tony McMichael The world population will reach an estimated 8-9 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, consumer expectations are rising. Hence, we must anticipate an approximately threefold increase in total food requirements over the coming half-century. Yet, even as new technologies emerge, we face newly-occurring global environmental changes such as climate change that are likely to impair food production. Recent modelling-based estimates indicate that, in the medium-to-longer term, if not over the next several decades, climate change is likely to affect crop yields adversely, especially in food-insecure regions. The prospect of increased climatic variability further increases the risks to future food production. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doug Cocks Economic growth, as conventionally measured, is a `good news' scenario for many; not so good if you think city life is polluted and congested enough already; not so good if you hate seeing ecosystems degraded and destroyed; not so good if you think that successive increments of economic growth are less and less beneficial to the average Australian. Should the community come to agree that economic growth needs to be slowed, reducing the rate of population growth is one effective readily-available way of doing so. Other incipient large-scale environmental changes likely to affect food production include stratospheric ozone depletion, the accelerating loss of biodiversity (with knock-on effects on crop and livestock pest species), and the perturbation of several of the great elemental cycles of nitrogen and sulphur. Indeed, modern agricultural practices, worldwide, are themselves a source of increasingly severe environmental damage, jeopardising the productivity of agroecosystems and contributing to large-scale environmental changes, including global climate change. Is global food supply sustainable? Our capacity to maintain food supplies for an increasingly large and increasingly expectant world population will require more efficient and sustainable production methods. These must incorporate socially beneficial genetic biotechnologies and, more generally, our future economic systems must minimise detrimental, ecologically damaging, climate change and global environmental changes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Fleay The world reduced dependence on cheap Persian Gulf oil after the 1970s oil crises by developing supplies elsewhere, substituting coal and natural gas for oil and by pursuing energy efficiency. Persian Gulf oil was used as a last resort. This strategy has run its course. Discovery of oil peaked in the early 1960s and production has exceeded discovery since 1980 and is now four times as much as discovery. Non-Persian Gulf oil is expected to peak through 2001 and the supply focus is shifting to the Persian Gulf where 60 per cent of the world's remaining oil is located. These countries are not investing on the scale needed and an oil shortage is expected in the near future. This will usher in a complex period, expected to end with the global decline of oil extraction around the end of the decade, when the Persian Gulf could be supplying half the world's oil, and world production commences its decline. Australia's oil self-sufficiency is likely to decline rapidly during the coming decade, with imports having a major impact on the balance of payments. Natural gas is an alternative fuel for land transport and agriculture in the medium term. The area of agricultural land per capita in the world has declined from 0.25 Ha in 1950 to 0.14 Ha in 1998 while grain production per person has increased by over 20 per cent, a doubling of crop yields per hectare. These increased yields have been made possible by an increased direct and indirect fossil fuel input to agriculture, principally by petroleum fuels. The dependence of the Persian Gulf countries on food imports to feed 75 per cent of their rapidly growing population and paid for with the income from oil exports is a major international issue for the next 40 years. A large proportion of their population will have to migrate elsewhere to survive over this period. Australia's agricultural production is particularly dependent on fertilisers because of its nutrient deficient soils, all of which involve a significant petroleum input. Industrial agriculture has been described as a way of converting petroleum into food. A world-wide strategy is needed first to halt population growth then to reduce it, while giving first priority to remaining economic petroleum fuels to support agriculture. A critical role for natural gas is the manufacture of nitrogen fertilisers, both as an energy source and of hydrogen for the synthesis of ammonia. Nitrogen fertilisers made the Asian Green Revolution possible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Cork Ecosystems are declining worldwide, largely due to ignorance of their value to humans and inadequate social and economic mechanisms to encourage individuals to invest in maintaining them. The concept of Ecosystem Services is becoming popular as a way to encourage discussion about the dependence of humans on nature and what that means socially and economically. Ecosystem services are transformations of natural assets (soil, water, air, and living organisms) into products that are important to humans. Examples include: provision of clean air and water; maintenance of soil fertility; maintenance of liveable climates; pollination of crops and other vegetation; control of potential pests; provision of genetic resources; production of food and fibre; and provision of cultural, spiritual and intellectual experiences. The value of ecosystem services to humans comes from their role in supporting our lives, their cheapness, and our limited ability to replace them with human-engineered alternatives. The problems we have in maintaining them come about because our economic systems don't cope well with goods and services that are publicly owned. This paper discusses the importance of ecosystem services for supporting food production and sustaining and fulfilling human populations. It briefly discusses an initiative being taken in Australia to apply the concept of ecosystem services to addressing the big drivers of ecosystem decline. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ken Johnson The human being dominates the biosphere and so it is important to consider what human being is. The distinction between our physical role and the essential intelligent nature of the species is important in the search for understanding. While complex, our physical impact is everywhere to be seen and the problem looms that we seem likely to so degrade our Earthly environment that we die out or not be able to maintain our prided civilisation. The problem is the social, economic and political aspects of human beings are so complex, and potentially confounding, that a successful outcome is problematic.
John Williams Australia's geological history has created a unique, very ancient, very flat continent that has accumulated enormous amounts of salts in the soils, regolith, lakes and groundwater. Most of our rivers and groundwater systems are sluggish, with only a small capacity to move salt from the continent. Thus, our farming systems must be able to work in a landscape that is old, flat and salty. Unfortunately, our current farming based around annual crops and pastures, does not work well in such a landscape. It leaks far too much water past the roots of the plants with the consequence that much more water enters into the landscape than drains from the landscape. Groundwater then rises as the landscape fills with water causing the abundant salt stores in the landscape to be moved to salt valley floors, rivers, wetlands. The challenge is to build an ecologically sustainable landscape consisting of a mosaic of commercial land uses that yield food and fibre coupled with native ecosystems that provides a suite of Ecosystem Services which are valued and paid for by stakeholders and beneficiaries. This will require innovative and inclusive approaches that permit fair comparison of market and non-market values. The development of the concept of valuing and marketing ecosystem services as part of this process will be increasingly important. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Marshall Organic Production and Processing is based on a number of principles and ideas. The following list of principles is taken from the Draft IFOAM Basic Standards. IFOAM is the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. It is an `umbrella' organization for the organic industry, made up of nearly 800 organizations from 104 countries. All the principles are important and the list does not seek to establish any priority of importance. To produce sufficient
quantities of nutritious wholesome, high quality food
David Johnson `Permaculture is a design system and conceptual framework for sustainability' that is firmly based on ethical considerations and concern for human and planetary health. The principles of Permaculture design are applicable to all sites, regardless of variations in climate and land size and soil types, and current management practices. However, the relevant local strategies may vary markedly. Permaculture draws on the work of a wide range of visionaries, such as PA Yeomans and Masanobu Fukuoka, and knits their contributions into a unified conceptual framework. It recognises the fundamental values of traditional farming practices that have maintained productivity over significant time frames and challenges us to learn from the catastrophic decline of civilisations that have ignored the need for sustainable practices in land management. The full paper considers the fundamental design principles of Permaculture and examines their relationship to sustainable food production. The broad range of strategies and techniques utilised include many which are common to other approaches to sustainability, however, the distinctive feature of Permaculture is its holism. Farming practised in harmony with house and garden design, with forestry management, and with financial and investment management. The ethical charter of Permaculture adds another dimension to food production. The threefold ethic includes `care of the earth, care of people, and dispersal of surplus time, money and materials towards these ends'. The first of these incorporates care of surviving natural assemblies, the rehabilitation of degraded land and the creation of complex human living environments. The second implies the ongoing provision of basic needs for food shelter, education, meaningful employment, and society. The last recognises that surplus resources not directed to the previous points are at best effect neutral but most usually of negative effect. The importance of local food production is central to the environmental economics of Permaculture. Traditionally, in sustainable societies, the food-growing has been in the towns and cities. This ensures freshness and hence maximum nutrition value; minimal transport costs; and stable local economies. In contradistinction, current Western agribusiness has a dependence on fossil fuel subsidy for production, harvest, distribution, and storage that results in ludicrously anomalous massive energy inputs for minor consumer benefit. Such anomaly continues to exist because environmental costs are still not included in the balance sheet, and so are of no apparent importance to the economic rationalist lemmings that maintain the precarious status quo. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Eastburn ...we have to take the long-term view that should this area be permitted to deteriorate any further, every Australian will suffer because of the severe impact on our quality of life, in terms of the region specifically, and, equally as important, the impact that it will have on our balance of payments. David Connolly, Chairman , River Murray Parliamentary Committee, 24 August 1983. The landscape and native flora and fauna of the Murray-Darling Basin were well adapted to the naturally saline conditions, and the low and highly variable rainfall and river flows of the region. However, the industries and preferred crops of our Western urban-industrial society are generally thirsty, exclusive, inflexible and salt intolerant. Even Australia's greatest inland river was too unreliable in its natural state to enable its valley to support intensive European settlement. This paper discusses some of the impacts of the irrigation of food crops on the sustainability of the Murray-Darling river system and the challenges in deciding on the future quality and quantity of its water. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Will Zacharin Australia leads the world in the management of fisheries. The implementation of limited entry policies in most jurisdictions through the 1960s and 1970s provided a strong base from which to sustainability manage our living marine resources. All States and Territories are now embarking on the development and implementation of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) plans for the management of commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture. An ESD framework and risk assessment strategy is nearing completion. This framework is fully supported by Government and industry. Additional environmental requirements imposed on some commercial fisheries and aquaculture developments by the Commonwealth Government will continue to position the Australian seafood sector at the forefront of international best practice. This paper discusses a number of these new initiatives and the benefits that will result. ESD planning is an investment, not a cost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gerard Gillespie There is a nexus between waste management and soil management, landfill and Landcare. The nexus is that part of the solution to both problems has a common source - the soil. We can have pollution, desertification, contamination and waste or we can have employment, good food, clean air and health. The cost will be about the same. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Donella Meadows (please note the author of this paper is deceased and researchers at Nature and Society Forum will respond to questions) If we want to feed the world, we have to spray the countryside with poisonous chemicals. We have to splice fish genes into tomatoes. We have to pour on chemical fertilizers. Organic agriculture is for backyard gardens, not for feeding billions. That's what you hear, over and over, in the media, from politicians, from "experts." One of the loudest of those experts is Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute, who says, over and over, things like this: "Widespread organic farming is simply not a viable option at this time. The first consequence of a global shift to organic farming would be the plowdown of at least six-million square miles of wildlife habitat to make up for the lower yields of organic production." Statements like that drive me crazy. They leap with suspicious speed to a conclusion I am not ready to embrace. They close off options without seriously opening them. They add up to a dictum so common it is developing a nickname: TINA. There Is No Alternative. TINA statements seem designed to make us swallow just one option (to which, after all, There Is No Alternative). Often it is an option which people are questioning, because, however profitable it might be to some, it imposes costs on others, on the environment, or on the future. Whenever I hear TINA, I start listening very hard, seeking out evidence, and above all looking for Alternatives. When I listen to those who say we must intensify and bioengineer agriculture to feed the world, I notice that they are making three big assumptions: 1. It will take a lot more food to feed the world. 2. More intensive industrial agriculture can produce a lot more food. 3. Organic farming can't. But when I look at the evidence, I find little support for any of those claims. In fact we already grow enough food to feed everyone. Industrial agriculture is undermining the resource base by which we do so. If anything can restore that resource base and feed the human population over the long term, it seems to be organic farming. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brendan Mackey In this paper I use the Earth Charter as a framework to examine sustainability issues surrounding food production and consumption. Sustainability implies behaviours that are both environmentally and socially responsible. The Earth Charter presents a broad and integrative definition of sustainability which is grounded in a sense of universal responsibility. What universal responsibilities do we share, and how might these influence the future of the Australian food industries? |