Food policy
The world needs a healthier, more sustainable and equitable food system grounded in education and awareness, backed by government regulation.
The George Institute’s Global Food Policy Program aims to make healthy food available for all and transform the food systems perpetuating ill health. With this, we can ensure healthy, sustainable food is affordable and accessible for everyone.
STATISTICS ON Food policy
- 11%
of deaths linked to poor diet
- 13M
deaths due to excess sodium intake
- 34%
OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS due to the food system
- 537million
adults globally are living with diabetes
Advancing healthier diets worldwide
Food systems and environments shape what we eat, profoundly impacting our health. We focus on driving change in these areas through rigorous research and evidence-informed advocacy.
We run multiple projects globally to question how the world produces and consumes food and considers dietary health. The strategic goals of the Global Food Policy Programs are to:
- Prevent millions of deaths from cardiovascular disease
- Make healthy food accessible and affordable
- Prevent unhealthy labelling and marketing
- Empower consumers and bring transparency to the global food supply
Our work supports the development of clearer, more effective food and alcohol labelling policies and helps prevent harmful influences, such as unhealthy marketing. Our flagship FoodSwitch program, a database and app with nutrition and labelling information on around 1 million packaged foods, tracks changes in the healthiness of the food supply worldwide, while the newly launched ecoSwitch includes greenhouse gas emissions data.
As a WHO Collaborating Centre on Population Salt Reduction, we assist countries to reduce salt in food and switch to potassium-enriched salt, helping to prevent deaths from heart disease and stroke.
Adopting a holistic approach to nutrition, we address food insecurity through programs like Food is Medicine in Australia and develop sustainable solutions to combat malnutrition in communities across Australia and India.
Our Projects
School-based salt education programme in China lowers blood pressure
A school-based salt education programme in China has worked with families, teachers and health educators to raise awareness about the risks of excess salt consumption and encourage people to reduce salt use in cooking.
‘EduSaltS’ reduced salt consumption and blood pressure in family members of the primary school children involved and is the first large-scale salt education programme to show such significant results. The approach is now being piloted in districts in Beijing and serves as a model which could be scaled up in China and other countries to help tackle cardiovascular disease – the biggest global killer.
Read our impact report
Explore our work in The George Institute’s Impact Report, a resource showcasing our achievements, stories, and progress towards a healthier, fairer world.
Learn morePolicy statements and recommendation in Food Policy
Our research-driven policy statements shape health systems worldwide. By working with key decision-makers, we ensure policies prioritise the needs of those most affected.
Learn moreOur programs of work
The programs in our Food Policy Division driving healthier diets and sustainable food systems globally:
Food Governance
Nutrition Implementation Research
The Food is Medicine Program
Latest NEWS and MEDIA
News and media releases
New research shows alcohol industry drags feet on mandated pregnancy warning
The George Institute for Global Health India welcomes WHO's recommendation on potassium-enriched salt to combat hypertension
Misleading claims on alcohol no gift to Aussies this Christmas, study shows
Mandatory Health Star Ratings a must after 10 years of food industry inaction
Making it compulsory to reduce salt in foods could save thousands of lives
The George Institute for Global Health and Resolve to Save Lives welcome the WHO’s recommendation to replace regular table salt with lower-sodium salt substitutes
Videos and podcasts
OUR RESEARCHERS
Simone Pettigrew
Program Head, Food Policy
What we eat and drink affects our physical and mental health. Our work provides evidence of how harmful industries increase profit at the expense of human health.
Suparna Ghosh-Jerath
Program Head, Nutrition
Food systems transition in low-and middle-income countries is leading to double burden of malnutrition including diet related non-communicable diseases. Our work uses principles of nutrition epidemiology and food systems research to generate evidence that informs food and nutrition policies to address this challenge.
Jason Wu
Program Head, Nutrition Science
The ‘Food is Medicine’ movement acknowledges the pivotal role food plays in promoting health by prescribing food to people with diet-related disease and food insecurity. The evidence base we are developing includes how programs could be implemented at-scale as part of healthcare to ensure equitable access to foods that promote good health.
Kathy Trieu
Program Lead - Nutrition Implementation Research, Food Policy
Nutrition interventions need to be tailored to the local context to be effective and efficient. Implementation research enables the adaptation and delivery of evidence-based nutrition approaches (like potassium-enriched salt substitution) to local contexts, with greater speed, fidelity, quality and coverage.
Alexandra Jones
Program Lead - Food Governance
Law is a powerful tool to protect public health. To date, we have implemented widespread food safety regulation so that the food we eat doesn’t make us sick overnight. However, we are only scratching the surface in using law and policy to prevent things like heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes - it’s these forms of ‘long term food poisoning’ that currently kill the majority of Australians.
Fraser Taylor
Our vision for FoodSwitch is an optimised food system for human health and the health of our planet. We will help achieve this by providing data and insights on the healthiness and environmental impact of the food supply that can impact consumer choice, government policy, and industry practice towards healthier and more sustainable foods
FURTHER READING
