Nutrition strategy adopted
The federal cabinet approved the federal government's nutrition strategy last week. The strategy entitled “Good Food for Germany” was developed by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). It brings together around 90 planned and existing nutrition policy measures with the aim of making good food easier for everyone in Germany. With this strategy, the BMEL is fulfilling a mandate from the coalition agreement and society.
Federal Minister Cem Özdemir: "Food and drink are basic needs and at the same time so much more. Food creates identity, it is enjoyment and tradition. And how we eat has a decisive influence on our health and well-being. I want everyone to have a real choice for good food. Delicious, healthy and sustainable food shouldn't depend on your wallet or what family you come from. With the federal government's nutrition strategy, we are creating offers that make good food possible for everyone. Everyone then has to decide for themselves, no one has that choice to tell someone to do something."
Currently, healthy, tasty and sustainable food is often made difficult for people where they eat or buy food in everyday life - whether in school, canteen or supermarket. They are often confronted with diverse, sometimes contradictory information. The consequences are serious: more than Every tenth person in Germany is diabetic. Unhealthy diet is linked to 14 percent of all deaths. And what harms people often also harms the environment.
With the nutrition strategy, the federal government is particularly committed to diverse food in daycare centers, schools and canteens and a wider range of healthy and sustainable foods in supermarkets. The aim is to encourage a varied diet with lots of vegetables and fruit. We also want to significantly and sustainably reduce food waste. And: This federal government is the first to recognize food poverty as a socio-political problem and to declare war on it. Overall, the strategy bundles short, medium and long-term measures from the federal government across departments with a target horizon of 2050.
Federal Minister Özdemir: "Our nutrition report has shown that many people's diets are changing rapidly. What is important to them is that it tastes good. And citizens value healthy, tasty and sustainable offerings. As politicians, it is our job to ensure this that they have a real choice, because this is also a question of equal opportunities."
background objects
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed to adopt a nutrition strategy with a particular focus on children and young people. The cabinet approved key points for this in December 2022. The nutrition strategy was developed in a participatory and open-ended process. Representatives from administration, science, business, consumers, the health sector, environmental protection and civil society were involved. To this end, several events and a broad online survey took place. Citizens were involved via a citizens' forum.
The nutrition strategy is also based on strategic and scientific work, for example by the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Nutrition and Consumer Health Protection (WBAE) at the BMEL, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) or the Future Commission for Agriculture (ZKL). The strategy formulates six goals. In addition to improving community catering, reducing food waste and strengthening a plant-based diet, these include socially fair access to healthy and sustainable nutrition, supporting adequate nutrient and energy supply and exercise, and increasing the supply of sustainably and ecologically produced food.
A more varied diet in daycare centers and schools should be promoted, for example, through binding nutritional standards and advice, the promotion of school kitchens and drinking water dispensers, and nutrition education for children and educators. In order to reduce food waste, the aim is, among other things, to set binding targets along the food chain and to provide information and support to consumers. Research should also be expanded, for example through national nutritional monitoring and the establishment of modern, permanent food monitoring. In order to give everyone access to good food, we want to improve the knowledge base on food poverty, better understand the nutritional situation in households with children at risk of poverty and work even better together across ministers.
The nutritional strategy was also developed against the background of increasing diet-related diseases. At least 8,5 million people in Germany suffer from type 2 diabetes mellitus. According to a 2015 study, the overall societal costs of obesity in Germany amount to around 63 billion euros per year. The direct health costs of excessive sugar, salt and saturated fat intake were estimated at 2008 billion euros in 16,8. This corresponded to seven percent of the total treatment costs in Germany.
With the federal government's nutrition strategy, we are also making an important contribution to future food security, which is threatened by wars, the climate crisis and the extinction of species. The nutrition strategy contributes to achieving the federal government's national and international climate, biodiversity and sustainability goals. According to the Food and Agriculture Report (2023) by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the so-called hidden costs of the food and agriculture system in Germany alone amount to around 300 billion US dollars per year. According to the report, around 90 percent of these in Germany are caused by an unbalanced diet.
