En nuestra sociedad actual en la que muchos, no todos, pueden decidir qué, cuándo y cuánto comen, la demanda de información sobre alimentos y dietas es creciente, y no siempre está guiada por la racionalidad y criterios científicos, sino por percepciones emocionales, influidas por modas y mitos en torno a la alimentación. Es evidente que los resultados de la investigación científica, y más en temas como los alimentarios, que tienen impacto social e interés para la salud de la población, no se pueden quedar en los estrictos límites de los expertos y sus publicaciones especializadas. El objetivo de este libro es contribuir a la difusión al público en general de los hechos y criterios que deben regir la elección y formas de consumo de lo que comemos. Todo ello presentado de manera clara, rigurosa, sin simplificaciones y con los debidos matices. El contenido incluye las bases científicas de una alimentación correcta, la influencia de los tratamientos tecnológicos y culinarios en la composición y el valor nutritivo de los alimentos, la dieta mediterránea como un modelo conveniente de alimentación de proximidad, la alimentación a seguir según la edad y en situaciones o ámbitos determinados, las dietas adecuadas en diversas patologías, las alimentaciones no convencionales o alternativas, y los nuevos alimentos o dietas.
“Food security exists when all people have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their daily energy needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” World Food Summit 1996.
The World Food Safety Day (WFSD) is celebrated on June 7, with the primary objective of inspiring actions to help prevent and detect possible risks that are transmitted through food, to achieve food security worldwide, but at the same time contribute to improving human health, economic growth of peoples, increase agriculture, livestock, and tourism, as well as achieving sustainable development of nations.
Globally, it is estimated that about 420 thousand people die annually, affecting mostly children under 5 years of age, with 125 thousand deaths. [1]
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, we have all been forced to take extreme measures for cleanliness, health, and personal care, including the strengthening of good hygiene practices for food or containers.
Food safety has also become increasingly important in recent years in response to the various outbreaks of food poisoning. As a result, legislation has become increasingly strict in this respect, delegating all responsibility to the owner of the product or establishment and requiring the implementation of a self-monitoring system by product manufacturers, as well as requiring analytical controls to ensure that food products comply with the microbiological criteria established in the legislation in force in the various territories.
For this reason, most countries currently establish different regulations to control the quality and safety of food at the different stages of the production and marketing chain, regulations that apply to both domestic and foreign companies that act as importers, producers, distributors, retailers, and handlers of food of various kinds, establishing the obligation to comply with analysis to verify the quality of food as a necessary requirement for the process of sanitary registration of products, and in due course for their marketing.
At the Central American level, there is RTCA 67.04.50:17 Food. Microbiological Criteria for Food Safety, which is the applicable food standard.
The quality of a product is verified through food analysis since this will determine whether the product is inadequate conditions for consumption or whether the product is deficient or lacks any health requirements that must be met.
We have the purpose of taking home a good quality food, this implies that we have to know what analysis should be performed on food and one of them is the first thing we should know: The chemical composition by quantification of the majority and minority components, this means that analyses of proteins, carbohydrates, fat, total minerals, vitamins, and minerals will be performed.
From the food point of view the established in the overall composition of a food is a mandatory preliminary step that is to obtain data that measure the nutritional effectiveness of various components and should have several techniques in food, one of them is the freshness of the food, physicochemical methods, thereby providing results with nutritional significance, and microbiological. These techniques detect the possible biochemical or enzymatic degraders in a portion of food, so we can realize that if a food has been degraded biochemically presenting oxidation in fats. Analyses in food are performed to determine foreign or natural substances that pose a danger to the consumer. [2]
Generally, this type of control is in charge of the Ministry of Health of each country, or of their Food Regulation and Control Departments and in other cases of Private Laboratories who are in charge of the work of food analysis.
This is because although food contains microorganisms that are beneficial for the manufacturing process of food and beverages, as well as for other types of products such as medicines, vaccines, or vitamins, and that are indispensable in our ecosystem and human welfare, there may also be pathogenic microorganisms, for example, Salmonella, E.coli, toxins, or other microorganisms, which if not detected promptly could endanger the health of the consumer, as they can cause infections or serious poisoning.
Thus, with the analyses carried out for the Food Sanitary Registration, there is the possibility of detecting the presence of toxic or undesirable substances that can be found in food, and that can cause damage to the health of consumers on time.
The components of food, whether water, amino acids, oils, fats, vitamins, among others, have specific properties that can be altered after changing handling and processing or natural issues, which is why carrying out analyses before authorizing the marketing of products is a relevant aspect for potential consumers.
Being able to analyze and check if the quality of food is modified or if it is contaminated is essential to distinguish whether it has become a product that poses a risk to the health of consumers or if it maintains its nutritional properties intact. [3]
It is for this reason that analysis is fundamental and indispensable to ensure food safety in the processes of storage, processing, transport, and distribution to the final consumer.
It is important to be aware of what food safety means, so knowing the quality and condition of the food we consume is essential to be certain that what we are eating meets the requirements and quality standards.
Nowadays we can know the origin, nutritional composition, and traceability of each food that reaches our table, thanks to the involvement of all the agents of the sector that help to control the products and raw materials throughout the food chain.
Finally, it is important to mention that international food trade is regulated by the World Trade Organization (WTO), ensuring that all food trade is controlled by standards, guidelines, and recommendations of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC or IPPC). Standards, guidelines, and other recommendations have become the basis for safe food production and consumer protection in the international food trade. [4]
-Minister Patuanelli said this when speaking in Parliament -
"We are organizing together with some European countries that, like Italy, are fighting against the introduction of an absurd traffic light classification of front-pack nutrition labeling. This will be the best way to try to make a common front against who is probably guided by the companies you mentioned, which have an interest in obtaining an advantage in large-scale distribution for products that are not of our territory, but of another type". So Stefano Patuanelli, Minister of Agricultural Policies, answering the question time in the Senate chamber.
"I believe - he added - it is clear to everyone that this is unacceptable for our country and our productions, also because we have many local productions, such as DOP and IGP products, which by law must guarantee the presence of nutritional elements of a certain type and they certainly cannot comply with what is required to get the absurd green light. Some things have already been done. When I was Minister of Economic Development I was one of the signatories of the battery label proposal, which makes much more sense and clearly highlights the nutritional values of foods and those relating to daily needs".
According to Patuanelli "we must make the European Commission understand that what matters is to transmit the cultural values of healthy eating, which means that a glass of wine at the end of a meal is good for you, while a bottle and a half is not. This is the central theme and it cannot be a label on the bottle to say whether a food is bad or not at all, because this always depends on the way a person eats. We are deeply convinced of this and all together we must fight a strong battle in Europe (not only us as a country, but together with other countries that we are involving in this process) because if it is true, as it is true, that citizens and consumers have the right to know the nutritional values of the food they eat, it is equally true that this right must be guaranteed in the correct way and not to bring an unfair advantage to multinational producers".
California voters overwhelmingly approved a measure (Proposition 12) on November 6 that requires stricter animal During the 2018 American Medical Association (AMA) Interim Meeting, held November 8–13, delegates adopted a new policy aimed at increasing consumer awareness of the amount of added sugars, as well as the type of allergens, in food products. Specifically, the AMA is urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop front-of-package warning labels for foods that are high in added sugars based on the established recommended daily value. The policy also encourages the FDA to limit the amount of added sugars allowed to be included in food products that also make claims about health or nutrient content on the front of their packages.
According to the AMA, many front-of-package food labels that make health claims about a particular nutrient are often placed on products that contain added sugars that are above the daily recommended value as outlined in the 2015–2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelinesfor Americans. The association believes that these nutrient claims may lead consumers to think a product is healthy despite the product’s level of added sugar.
Under the new policy, the AMA is also encouraging food manufacturers to pursue more obvious packaging distinctions between products that contain the most common food allergens identified in the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act and products that do not contain these allergens.
“The AMA believes that food packaging should include more transparent information about the contents within our food, so the healthy choice can be the easy choice for consumers,” said Albert J. Osbahr, III, a member of the AMA board of trustees. “When consumers have access to the amount of sugar they are consuming, they may choose foods with less sugar—which can help prevent debilitating chronic medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease which affect millions of Americans.”
The AMA has existing policy to ensure Americans better understand the actual amount of sugar contained in the foods they consume, including policy in support of the FDA’s decision to include added sugars on nutrition labels.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a step-by-step guide—called REPLACE—to eliminate industrially produced trans-fatty acids from the global food supply. WHO estimates that every year trans fat intake leads to more than 500,000 deaths of people from cardiovascular disease. Industrially produced trans fats are contained in hardened vegetable fats, such as margarine and ghee, and are often present in snack food, baked foods, and fried foods.
“WHO calls on governments to use the REPLACE action package to eliminate industrially produced trans-fatty acids from the food supply,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general. “Implementing the six strategic actions in the REPLACE package will help achieve the elimination of trans fat, and represent a major victory in the global fight against cardiovascular disease.”
REPLACE provides six strategic actions to ensure the prompt, complete, and sustained elimination of industrially produced trans fats from the food supply:
REview dietary sources of industrially produced trans fats and the landscape for required policy change.
Promote the replacement of industrially produced trans fats with healthier fats and oils.
Legislate or enact regulatory actions to eliminate industrially produced trans fats.
Assess and monitor trans fats content in the food supply and changes in trans fat consumption in the population.
Create awareness of the negative health impact of trans fats among policy makers, producers, suppliers, and the public.
Enforce compliance of policies and regulations.
Several countries have virtually eliminated industrially produced trans fats through legally imposed limits on the amount that can be contained in packaged food. In Denmark, the first country to mandate restrictions on industrially produced trans fats, the trans fat content of food products declined dramatically and cardiovascular disease deaths declined more quickly than in comparable Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Action is needed in low- and middle-income countries, where controls of use of industrially produced trans fats are often weaker, to ensure that the benefits are felt equally around the world.
Elimination of industrially produced trans fats from the global food supply has been identified as one of the priority targets of WHO’s strategic plan, the draft 13th General Program of Work (GPW13), which will guide the work of the organization from 2019 to 2023. GPW13 is on the agenda of the 71st World Health Assembly that will be held in Geneva on May 21–26. As part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the global community has committed to reducing premature death from noncommunicable diseases by one-third by 2030. Global elimination of industrially produced trans fats can help achieve this goal.
•
17 June 2016 - Kostas Chrysogonos – [E-004932-16] - Subject: Alarming figures on obesity:
The
OECD's 2015 report Health at a Glance contains alarming
figures about the percentage of citizens and especially children who are facing
obesity. According to
this report, obesity is one of the greatest health challenges of the
21st century, since, especially in Europe, it is three times as common as
in the 1980s, and by 2030 it is expected to affect up to one in two Europeans[1]. Obesity is also
considered responsible for the spread of diseases such as diabetes,
hypertension etc. Of even greater concern, however, is the fact that these
figures are more pronounced among children, since in Greece already about one
in two boys between 10 to 12 years of age is overweight, followed by the
UK which has a figure of 35%[2].
In
view of the above, will the Commission say:
1.
Does it monitor World Health Organisation surveys on obesity?
2.
What steps will it take to curb the growth of this phenomenon?
3.
The OECD report proposes an increase in the price of types of food that are
considered sources of fat and sugar. Does it agree with this strategy?
Answer
given by Mr Andriukaitis on behalf of the Commission (10 August 2016):
« 1. The Commission, under the framework of the
Health Programme[3], both follows and supports the World Health
Organisation (WHO) obesity-related databases Nutrition, Obesity and Physical
Activity and Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative[4]. The Commission, the Member States and the WHO
are also collaborating to monitor the action plan on Childhood Obesity (APCO).
2. The Commission
supports Member States' action to promote healthy diets in the framework of the
comprehensive Strategy on Nutrition, Overweight, and Obesity-related health
issues[5], the Health Programme[6] and through the High Level Group on Nutrition
and Physical Activity[7]and the EU platform for action on diet, physical
activity and health[8].
Initiatives are ongoing, such
as the implementation of the APCO, the Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical
Activity[9] and the EU Framework for national action on
selected nutrients[10].
In addition, by promoting
responsible marketing to children[11], improving consumer information[12], and supporting the EU School Fruit, Vegetables
and Milk Scheme[13], the Commission promotes healthier diets. Horizon
2020offers opportunities for related research[14][15][16]and innovation is also supported through related pilot
projects financed by the European Parliament[17].
3. Food prices can be
influenced by taxation and/or subsidies and such measures are — within the
limits of the Treaty — the responsibility of Member States. Evidence and the
analysis of the WHO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development show that such measures can be an effective and efficient tool to
promote healthier consumption habits. Nevertheless, taxation should be
considered as part of a wider range of tools and the complexity of its effects
calls for careful consideration and design.».
On 19 May 2015 the European Commission adopted a
Communication entitled “Better regulation for better results - An EU agenda”.
This comprehensive package of reforms, known as the Better Regulation Agenda,
covers the entire policy cycle. It will hopefully boost openness and transparency
in the EU decision-making process, improve the quality of new laws
through better impact assessments of draft legislation and amendments; it is
furthermore expected to lead to the constant and consistent review of existing
EU laws, so that EU policies achieve their objectives in the most effective and
efficient way.
This is not the first time the Commission has set
itself such goals, even if so far the “quality” of Community legislation has
only deteriorated - especially when it comes to Food Law. So while there is no
doubting the political will to improve future European Union (EU) legislation,
the main question remains whether the Communication’s pledge to take on board
“lessons learned from implementing a policy through better monitoring and
evaluation [that] may also provide fresh evidence about which policy solution
is the best” will be reflected in practice.
Christine Burggraf, Lena Kuhn, Qiran Zhao, Thomas Glauben and Ramona Teuber - Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies
Paper prepared for presentation at the EAAE 2014 Congress ‘Agri-Food and Rural Innovations for Healthier Societies’ August 26 to 29, 2014 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract: Given the heterogeneity between Russia and China, we analyze the extent to which income growth as a major driver of nutrition transition has a significant effect on the consumption of different food aggregates. We estimate expenditure elasticities of nine different food aggregates for China and Russian, applying a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand model. Our results indicate that future income growth in China and Russia will continue to increase meat consumption. Despite being a positive signal for problems of malnutrition in China, this trend might further increase the incidence of chronic diseases with negative cost effects on public health care systems.
La Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos (FDA, por sus siglas en inglés), propone actualizar la Etiqueta de Información Nutricional que se usa en la mayoría de la comida empaquetada en los Estados Unidos. La Etiqueta de Información Nutricional, que se introdujo hace 20 años, ayuda a los consumidores a tomar decisiones alimentarias informadas y a mantener prácticas dietéticas sanas. Si se ejerce esta propuesta, los siguientes serían algunos de los cambios propuestos. 1. Mayor comprensión de la ciencia de la nutrición Exigir información sobre “azúcares añadidas”. Muchos expertos recomiendan consumir menos calorías provenientes de la azúcar añadida, ya que pueden disminuir el consumo de alimentos ricos en nutrientes y al mismo tiempo aumentar el consumo de calorías. Actualizar los valores diarios para los nutrientes como el sodio, la fibra y la vitamina D.Los valores diarios se usan para calcular el porcentaje de valor diario registrado en la etiqueta, lo cual ayuda a los consumidores a entender la información nutricional en el contexto de su dieta diaria total. Exigir a los fabricantes que declaren la cantidad de potasio y vitamina D en la etiqueta porque son nuevos “nutrientes significativos para la salud pública”. La información sobre el calcio y el hierro seguirá siendo obligatoria, y las vitaminas A y C se podrían incluir voluntariamente. Aunque se seguirá exigiendo registrar las “grasas totales”, “grasas saturadas” y “grasas trans” en la etiqueta, se eliminará las “calorías provenientes de la grasa” porque los estudios muestran que el tipo de grasa es más importante que la cantidad. información nutricional propuesta por la FDA, Etiqueta de Información Nutricional, “azúcares añadidas”,nutrientes , envasados, comer, calorias, por porcion 2. Actualización de los requisitos para el tamaño de la porción y nuevos requisitos para las etiquetas de paquetes de ciertos tamaños Cambiar los requisitos del tamaño de la porción para reflejar cómo come y bebe la gente de hoy, lo cual ha cambiado desde que se establecieron los tamaños de porciones por primera vez hace veinte años. Por ley, la información de la etiqueta en cuanto a tamaños de porción debe corresponder a lo que la gente realmente come, no a lo que “debería” comer. Exigir que los productos envasados que típicamente se consumen de una vez, incluyendo las bebidas, sean etiquetados como una sola porción y se declare la información nutricional y de calorías para el paquete entero. Por ejemplo, una botella de un refresco de 20 onzas, que típicamente se consume de una vez, se etiquetaría como una porción, no como más de una porción. Para ciertos paquetes más grandes que se podrían consumir de una vez o en varias ocasiones, los fabricantes tendrían que ofrecer etiquetas con dos columnas para indicar la información nutritiva y de calorías “por porción” y “por envase”. Esto se aplicaría, por ejemplo, a una botella de gaseosa de 24 onzas o una pinta de helado. De este modo, los consumidores podrían entender fácilmente cuántas calorías y nutrientes consumirán si comen o beben todo el paquete de una vez. 3. Diseño renovado Resaltar las calorías y los tamaños de porción y así enfatizar las partes de la etiqueta importantes para los problemas actuales de la salud pública como la obesidad, la diabetes, y las enfermedades cardiovasculares. Poner el porcentaje de valor diario a la izquierda de la etiqueta para que se vea primero.
1. Mayor comprensión de la ciencia de la nutrición
