Tim Lang
Centre for Food Policy, Thames Valley University
International Centre for Health and Society, UCL
2001 Seminar Series
21 March 2001- 5pm (followed by drinks 6pm)
'New European Food and Health Initiatives: what do they add
up to?'
RSVP attendance essential by Tue 20/03/01
Abstract
Europe’s food and agricultural policies are in a state of some crisis. A
series of food and health scandals have rocked the equilibrium of the
European Union’s policy-making processes. Suddenly, the Common
Agricultural Policy is looking not so secure. Yet CAP is both the heart
of the EU’s food policy and accounts for half the EU’s total budget.
This lecture by Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at Thames Valley
University, will explore the present state of affairs. He will argue that
EU food policies were never set in concrete. A delicate balance of
forces means that policies tend to move incrementally rather than by
seismic shifts. Yet suddenly, more radical change just might be
possible. A wave of scandals over food and health has swept across
Europe. Tensions have built up over the cost of the Common
Agricultural Policy. Food and health is now mainstream politics and
out of the Agriculture Ministries’ ghetto.
The European Commission’s response – just as the Government’s
response in the UK – has been to focus on food safety. As the current
crisis over foot and mouth disease (FMD) illustrates, the problems in
Europe’s food supply are not just issues of safety, but also of supply
and health outcomes. In the case of FMD, difficulties are
compounded by the food supply chain being an ‘open’ system, when
public health controls operate better if it is ‘closed’.
After years of resisting the critics, the powerful European food
industry now accepts that food safety may be an issue. It is happier to
negotiate over safety than over the more problematic issues of, say,
diet and degenerative disease. These it sees as ‘lifestyle choices’ and
therefore not its concern. This lecture will argue that the food
revolution of the last 50 years has to be part of the policy picture, too.
A proper food and health policy would give equal emphasis to
nutrition, safety and sustainable food supply. EU Member States have
already signed up to such a vision for food policy in the World Health
Organisation European Region’s programme on food and health.
Looking ahead, a number of scenarii are possible. The EU could
retreat to business as usual or move forward to adopt and implement
to WHO-E approach. CAP could be curtailed more dramatically than
ever before or it could be radically reformed into an environmental
programme. The new European Food Authority could be a co-
ordinating shop or it could become a voice for health in the wider
sense. The outcome of these policy options will, as ever, depend on
the marshalling of social forces and whether the public health
movement unites to pursue, for once, a common health agenda.
End
Patricia Crowley
Centre Administrator
International Centre for Health and Society
Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health, UCL
1 - 19 Torrington Place
London WC1E 6BT
Tel: (International code +44 20) or (Domestic code 020) 76791708
Fax: (International code +44 20) or (Domestic code 020) 7813 0280
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