Food policy

Food policy is the area of public policy concerning how food is produced, processed, distributed, purchased, or provided. Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system balanced with ensuring human health needs. This often includes decision-making around production and processing techniques, marketing, availability, utilization, and consumption of food, in the interest of meeting or furthering social objectives. Food policy can be promulgated on any level, from local to global, and by a government agency, business, or organization. Food policymakers engage in activities such as regulation of food-related industries, establishing eligibility standards for food assistance programs for the poor, ensuring safety of the food supply, food labeling, and even the qualifications of a product to be considered organic.
Most food policy is initiated at the domestic level for purposes of ensuring a safe and adequate food supply for the citizenry. In a developing nation, there are three main objectives for food policy: to protect the poor from crises, to develop long-run markets that enhance efficient resource use, and to increase food production that will in turn promote an increase in income.
Food policy comprises the mechanisms by which food-related matters are addressed or administered by governments, including international bodies or networks, and by public institutions or private organizations. Agricultural producers often bear the burden of governments' desire to keep food prices sufficiently low for growing urban populations. Low prices for consumers can be a disincentive for farmers to produce more food, often resulting in hunger, poor trade prospects, and an increased need for food imports.
In a more developed country such as the United States, food and nutrition policy must be viewed in context with regional and national economic concerns, environmental pressures, maintenance of a social safety net, health, encouragement of private enterprise and innovation, and an agrarian landscape dominated by fewer, larger mechanized farms. Industrialized countries strive to ensure that farmers earn relatively stable incomes despite price and supply fluctuations and adverse weather events. The cost of subsidizing farm incomes is passed along to consumers in the form of higher food prices.

History

History of food policy within the U.S. federal government

The history of food policy in the United States started in the 1880s with policies being carried out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1883, Harvey W. Wiley, M.D., was appointed chief chemist at USDA. Wiley devoted his career to raising public awareness of problems with adulterated food; developing standards for food processing; and campaigning for the Pure Food and Drug Act, also known as the "Wiley Act". For much of the 1880s, policymakers discussed how to deal with diseased livestock being imported into or exported out of the United States. In 1884, the USDA Bureau of Animal Industry was created with the purpose of ensuring that diseased livestock could not be used as food. In 1890, the BAI was charged also with testing meats being exported from the U.S. and ensuring these were disease-free. In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act were both signed into law. Both prevent production and sale of adulterated or misbranded foods, the Pure Food and Drug Act focusing on general foods, and FMIA focusing on meats.
The Bureau of Chemistry, which was charged with enforcing the Pure Food and Drug Act, was reorganized in 1927, becoming the Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration, and eventually came to be called the Food and Drug Administration in 1931. In 1938, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed by Congress, giving the FDA authority to set food safety standards. The FDA was reorganized to be under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services in 1940. The Agricultural Marketing Act was passed in 1946, allowing inspection of exotic and game animals on a pay-by-case basis, and giving the USDA the authority to inspect, certify and identify the class, quality and condition of agricultural products.
In 1953, with large-scale reorganization in the USDA, the BAI and Bureau of Dairy were abolished, among other bureaus, and their duties were transferred to the Agricultural Research Service. The Poultry Products Inspection Act was passed in 1957. This ensured that poultry products shipped in interstate commerce as well as those products being imported into the U.S. were continually inspected for diseases, and that product labels are accurate. In 1958, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 was amended to include the Food Additive Amendment, addressing concerns over invisible hazards from chemicals added to the foods. Also, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act was passed in 1958. In 1978, this act was amended to ensure that all meat that was inspected by the FSIS to be used for human consumption was humanely slaughtered.
In 1965, reorganization of the ARS' Consumer and Marketing Service brought federal meat and poultry inspection into one program. In 1967, the Wholesome Meat Act amended the FMIA, and in 1968, the Wholesome Poultry Act amended the PPIA, both requiring states to conduct inspection programs at least as stringent as federal inspections. The Egg Products Inspection Act, passed in 1970, ensured the continuous inspection of the processing of egg products. In 1995, this task was taken over by FSIS, and the FDA took responsibility for shell egg products. In 1977, following several changes in organization, the Food Safety and Quality Service, renamed the Food Safety and Inspection Service in 1981, was created to perform meat and poultry grading.
Following an E. coli outbreak in 1993, inspections began to rely more on scientific tests as opposed to the usual sensory-based inspections. FSIS pushed research of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. In 1996, the Pathogen Reduction/HACCP Systems were issued, ensuring that illness-causing pathogens are reduced on raw products. Now, while the industry must ensure they are using safe practices, the government is ultimately responsible for setting safety standards and enforcing those standards through inspections and regulation.
While food safety concerns may have motivated some of the earliest food policy initiatives, public policies developed around other forms of consumer protections during the latter half of the 20th century, including food labeling and dietary guidance. The role of poverty in food insecurity as well as agricultural concerns have also contributed to the food policy landscape and debate in the United States in recent decades.

History of food policy outside of the U.S. federal government

The primary international agency with a focus on food policy is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, established in 1945 with four express purposes: to improve nutrition and living standards in member nations, improve the efficiency of production and distribution of all food and agricultural products, better the conditions of rural populations, and expand the world economy in such a way that it would ensure humanity's freedom from hunger. In 1974, FAO hosted the first World Food Conference in Rome and adopted a "Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition". In the aftermath, numerous public and private efforts were launched to better understand the agricultural, economic, social, climatological, and geo-political contributors to hunger. Organizations such as the International Food Policy Research Institute were founded to fund research designed to lead to "sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty" and annually produces a Global Food Policy Report. Policy-makers seek to better understand how economic principles govern supply and demand and how supply and demand influence food security, first defined in the 1970s as "the ability to meet food needs in a consistent way," though the definition continues to evolve.
Food policies evolve as nations improve their economic condition, moving from an economy based on isolated, self-sufficient rural farming to one based on trade and the development of a wider variety of goods and services offered. Urbanization, population growth, and shifting health concerns affect the way food policy is approached. The following table adapted from Simon Maxwell and Rachel Slater succinctly describes the evolutionary shift in food policies internationally.

	Food policy "old"	Food policy "new"
Population	Mostly rural	Mostly urban
Rural jobs	Mostly agricultural	Mostly non-agricultural
Employment in the food sector	Mostly in food production and primary marketing	Mostly in food manufacturing and retail
Actors in food marketing	Grain traders	Food companies
Supply chain	Short - small number of food miles	Long - large number of food miles
Typical food preparation	Mostly food cooked at home	High proportion of pre-prepared meals, food eaten out
Typical food	Basic staples, unbranded	Processed food, branded products; More animal products
Packaging	Low	High
Purchased food bought from	Local stall, shops, open markets	Supermarkets
Food safety issues	Pesticide poisoning of field workers; toxins associated with poor storage	Pesticide residues in food; adulteration; bio-safety issues in processed foods
Nutrition problems	Under-nutrition	Chronic dietary diseases
Nutrient issues	Micronutrients	Fat; sugar
Food insecure	"Peasants"	Urban and rural poor
Main sources of national food shocks	Poor rainfall and other production shocks	International price and other trade problems
Main sources of national food shocks	Poor rainfall and other production shocks	Income shocks causing food poverty
Remedies for household food shortage	Safety nets, food-based relief	Social protection, income transfers
Fora for food policy	Ministries of agriculture, relief/rehabilitation, health	Ministries of trade and industry, consumer affairs; food activist groups; NGOs
Focus of food policy	Agricultural technology, parastatal reform, supplementary feeding, food for work	Competition and rent-seeking in the value chain, industrial structure in the retail sector, futures markets, waste management, advertising, health education, food safety
Key international institutions	FAO, WFP, UNICEF, WHO, CGIAR	FAO, UNIDO, ILO, WHO, WTO