Table 4 Requirements for an effective Healthy Food Partnership
From: Designing a Healthy Food Partnership: lessons from the Australian Food and Health Dialogue
Government leadership and funding |
- Renewed and unambiguous public commitment from ministerial level, supported by necessary funding |
- Credible expectation of implementing responsive regulatory approach where sufficient progress not demonstrated |
- Charismatic ministerial representative to act as facilitative leader/’honest broker’, present at all meetings, publicly committed to outcomes, able to make ‘fair calls’ as required |
Clear targets and timelines |
- Focus on changing food environment, not only education or increasing physical activity |
- National targets explicitly aligned to Australia’s commitments to WHO global NCD targets |
- Food reformulation targets explicitly aligned with national targets for reducing dietary risks |
- Incorporate existing Dialogue work, accelerate reformulation activity in additional food categories, nutrients and sectors including Quick Service Restaurants (‘fast food’) |
- Feasibility determined by independent technical experts e.g. CSIRO, not industry players |
- Consider adopting existing targets developed for other jurisdictions (e.g. UK) |
- Complement existing Health Star Rating System |
- Plan to enshrine in Food Standards Code as part of responsive regulatory approach |
Control for conflict of interest |
- Government to set clear Terms of Reference for involvement of different stakeholders, ensuring industry not involved in setting policy objectives and agenda |
- Agreed, explicit governance arrangements that focus on tripartite collaboration while allowing for exercise of government authority when necessary. |
- Open meetings with publically available minutes |
- ‘Co-chair’ approach to working groups, ensuring equal representation of perspectives and that conflicting profit motives of industry don’t derail collaborative efforts towards the Partnership’s public health objectives |
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission appointed as independent observer |
Independent monitoring and evaluation |
- Independently conducted regular public reporting of progress towards agreed goals and targets |
- Information available on individual company compliance with voluntary commitments |
- Periodic review of Partnership’s governance arrangements in light of performance |
- Publicise success, highlight and act upon failure - public communication by government, ‘shadow reporting’ by consumer and public health groups, recognition scheme administered by trusted independent group |