The main political parties competing in the 2019 legislative elections are, for the first time and in a broad way, including the promotion of healthy eating in their programs. We have listed the different proposals, almost always transcribed from the original party programs, for comparison and analysis. However, we emphasize that the selection of the information considered most relevant from each program and its aggregation into different areas of intervention reflects the authors' analysis.
Without reflecting on the merits or demerits of each political proposal (that task is left to the reader), we can see that the classic division between so-called more liberal policies, which attempt to reduce the power of the State by encouraging private initiative, and social-democratic policies, with greater responsibility and intervention of the State as the main player in promoting social welfare, is not reflected in the proposals presented in the area of food.
Following this line of thought, we could admit, for example, that models or proposals for regulating the supply of food in schools, or even for taxing sugar or salt, could emerge from the traditionally left-leaning political spectrum, or that proposals for greater investment in communication and food education could be situated further to the right. But what we find are diverse proposals ideologically detached from different programs. This situation is most likely a result of the recent discovery of food issues by our political parties, given the pressure to make proposals to modify inadequate food consumption, the main determinant of the years of healthy life lost by the Portuguese population. It is also due to the fact that the voting population has a positive perception of the measures taken to date to improve the quality of the food supply (even those in the area of tax creation), as recently demonstrated in scientific studies. The Second Major Survey on Sustainability conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (2019) assessed whether the Portuguese are open to state intervention in the area of promoting healthy eating, and a notable positive support was observed. Most Portuguese people (almost 80%) agree with state intervention in this area, including measures that do not usually garner public support. More than 60% of those surveyed said they agreed with the creation of taxes on unhealthy foods. Beyond these aspects, various authors suggest that the traditional left-right antagonisms may not be easily transposed to the area of food policy, given that modes of production and distribution involve ideologically overlapping issues, such as those related to the defense of local production, which can be placed both within the sphere of more progressive global environmental protection and in the more conservative and nationalist.
An analysis of the various electoral programs reveals three major areas for investment in the next legislature. One is a focus on disease prevention and health promotion measures, where the promotion of healthy eating stands out. Another area highlights the need to intensify measures promoting healthy eating in schools. And finally, there is a need to increase investment and strengthen primary healthcare to improve the capacity to respond to nutritional needs.
Portugal has had a national food strategy or national food policy since 2012, led by the Directorate-General of Health, which integrates different areas, from assessing the situation to various intervention proposals for improving the nutritional status of the population and its monitoring. This policy, already internationally recognized, highlights measures aimed at empowering citizens to make healthy choices and others designed to improve the food environment in which we live, as recommended by the WHO and the European Commission. When comparing this strategy with the measures proposed by the different political parties, we can see in the programs now presented a large volume of proposals focused on education, literacy, and intervention in schools and school canteens. This is an area where municipalities and local authorities currently have the main responsibilities in contracting food services and recruiting human resources (nutritionists in municipalities). Unfortunately, the party programs ignore this issue, as well as others that are central to the operational improvement of the nutritional status of our populations. However, we can put things into perspective, since this is the first legislature where food and nutrition issues are included (for better or worse) in the programmatic proposals of almost all parties. This is an important development for nutrition in Portugal. Nutrition is gaining a political voice in Portugal through political parties. This is a development that we will be following closely.
1. Promoting healthy eating in the school setting
2. Improve access to and quality of primary healthcare – Focus on nutrition consultations
3. Disease prevention and health promotion
Note:
The authors are professors of Nutrition Policy at FCNAUP. They have been or are currently involved with the National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS) of the Directorate-General of Health. The authors have no political affiliation or personal interests in the field.
Written by
Pedro Graça, Director of the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Porto
