Food Policy Councils and the Role Nutritionists Play

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Food Policy Councilsand the Role Nutritionists
Play

• Ellen Desjardins, MHSc, RD
• SNE Annual Conference, July/2005
• Orlando, Florida
• Docs204395

Building Healthy and Supportive Communities
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The view from 2 Canadian Food Policy
Organizations

• 1. Toronto Food Policy Council
• 1990 Large city
• 2. Foodlink Waterloo Region
• 2001 Urban-rural region

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Why were these policy organizations formed?

• to increase citizens awareness of, and
  participation in, food system issues
• (food democracy)
• to address problems of hunger and
• food insecurity

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Why were these food policyorganizations (FPOs)
formed?

• to advocate for sustainable, safe food
  production and distribution
• to improve access to healthy food in the
  community
• to bridge the disconnect between food producers
  and consumers

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Why were these food policyorganizations
(FPOs) formed?

• Overall goal
• to provide a voice and mode of action for civil
  society, with respect to food issues.
• The result?
• Healthier populations with better eating habits,
  enhanced food security and sustainable food
  production.

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Toronto Food Policy Council

• TFPC partners with business and community groups
  to develop policies and programs promoting food
  security.
• Our aim is a food system that fosters equitable
  food access, nutrition, community development and
  environmental health

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Foodlink Waterloo Region

• Together with farmers, consumers and community
  stakeholders, Foodlink seeks to
• 1. promote healthy local food
• 2. add value to local agriculture production
• 3. improve consumer access to local food

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Types of programs policies

• Healthy food access for low income populations
• Advocacy on health issues
• (e.g. BST, breastfeeding, food
  contamination)
• Community gardens
• Agricultural land preservation
• Buy-local campaigns, farmers markets
• Economic development
• (e.g. local, small-scale food processing)

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Who is at the table?(on the Board)

• Nutrition educators
• Emergency food workers
• Urban planners
• Farmers, farm organizations
• Citizens
• University researchers, students
• Environmental experts
• Food safety activists
• Faith groups

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Who funds the organizations?

• Toronto Food Policy Council
• -Initiated and funded by the City of Toronto
• Foodlink Waterloo Region
• -Initiated by Public Health (Regional funding)
• -Became incorporated . now is funded through
  community grants and payment for services
• ( staff and resource support from public
  health)

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What is the role of nutrition professionals in
FPOs?

• They have skills and knowledge that are valuable
  to
• (a) the formation of new food policy
  organizations
• (b) the regular functioning of existing food
  policy organizations

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Contribution to FPOs by nutrition professionals

• Food and nutrition education
• Provide legitimacy as health professionals
• Media skills
• Proposal writing
• Report writing
• Evaluation and research
• Organizational and facilitation skills

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Value of FPOs FOR Nutrition Professionals

• Better understanding about food in a broader
  systems context (e.g. agriculture)
• Voice at a multi-disciplinary table and in
  different political contexts
• Greater opportunity to make a difference, e.g.
• - policy level (regional support for local food)
• - program level (e.g. university food service)

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Case examples of Nutritionist role

• 1. Toronto Food Policy Council
• Series of Food Policy Discussion papers written
  by Rod MacRae, PhD, past TFPC coordinator
• http//www.toronto.ca/health/tfpc_index.htm
• Nutritionist provided input/consultation on
  report
• If the Health Care System Believed You Are What
  You Eat Strategies to Integrate our Food and
  Health Systems (1997)

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Case examples of Nutritionist role

• 2. Foodlink Waterloo Region
• Public Health Nutritionist prepared the
  groundwork to create the organization
• (a) interviewed community stakeholders
• (b) planned community forum on food issues
• (c) helped set goals and strategies for new
  organization
• (d) communicated food issues to new membership
• regularly, to increase awareness

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Challenges to Food Policy Orgs

• FPOs sometimes attract people with radical and/or
  opposing views
• -Role of Nutrition Educator can be crucial
• FPOs face controversial issues
• e.g. the need for cheap food vs farmers and
  food workers rights to a just income
• -must find a balance between being
  confrontational and overly compromising

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Challenges to Food Policy Orgs

• On-going funding issues
• Areas that are new for nutrition educators, e.g.
  agricultural
• Wide variety of issues come up do you address
  them all, or focus?
• Gaining trust among stakeholders

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summary

• Food policy organizations are an important
  mechanism for action on rural and urban
  food-related issues, by allowing a broad group of
  stakeholders to collectively find solutions.
• There are multiple models for food policy
  organizations, which can adapted to the unique
  needs and resources of regions and cities.
• Nutrition educators play a key role in such
  organizations, offering a wide range of skills.
• Nutrition educators also gain from this work.