Open letter from 70 organizations to the attention of Elisabeth Borne for a National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate that meets the challenges of ecology, social justice and public health.
Madam Prime Minister,
The government will define its National Food, Nutrition and Climate Strategy this summer, which will guide France’s food policy for 2030. The stakes are immense: our food plays a major role in climate change, the collapse of biodiversity and the explosion of chronic non-communicable diseases (diabetes, obesity, cancers, etc.). These pathologies first strike the most precarious people, while it is estimated that at least 8 million people are today in a situation of food insecurity in France.
The causes of these problems are known: intensification of agricultural and livestock systems, multiplication of the supply of ultra-processed foods and products that are too fatty, too sweet and too salty, omnipresence of advertising and marketing for products of poor nutritional quality and for industrial meat, exposure to endocrine disruptors, difficulties of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and more broadly to organic, local and seasonal products… Yet, despite these systemic factors, public policies continue to be based on the “voluntary commitments” of companies in the food sector, and on the myth of the “responsible consumer” who alone would have the power to bring about in-depth changes in the practices of the giants of mass distribution and the food industry.
In this context, we, learned societies associations of consumers, families, patients and all users of the health system, farmers, health and medico-social professionals, protection of the environment and -being animal, and solidarity, urge the government to learn from the failure of past policies. In order not to be another missed opportunity, the National Food, Nutrition and Climate Strategy must apply the convergent recommendations issued by multiple independent bodies (ANSES, National Food Council, Court of Auditors, France Strategy, Public Health France, etc.) and integrate the demands of civil society made by 54 organisations.
This Strategy must first of all clearly set out ambitious and precise objectives for the transition of our food, concerning in particular:
- Increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts.
- The increase in the consumption of products from agroecology, in particular organic and seasonal products, grown and produced in France.
- The decline in the consumption of products that are too fatty, too sweet and too salty, as well as that of ultra-processed products.
- The decline in the overall consumption of meat (poultry included) and dairy products, primarily targeting products from intensive farming.
To achieve these objectives, it is essential that the National Food, Nutrition and Climate Strategy plans structural policies along the food value chain, from agricultural and agri-food production to consumption and distribution. and out-of-home catering. In particular, it must:
- Strengthen economic support for the collective catering sector and for farmers to support them in the transition.
- Program binding measures to make the food supply and environment compatible with a healthy and sustainable diet, including as a priority the ban on advertising for products harmful to health and the planet, the Nutri-score obligation , supervising the margins of large retailers and setting up genuine environmental labeling also indicating the breeding method.
- Increase the means dedicated to education (particularly in schools), to the training of health professionals and to raising the awareness of the entire population about healthy and sustainable food.
- Make access for all to healthy and sustainable food a priority and put in place concrete measures to achieve this objective, in particular by giving the power to act to the most socially precarious populations.
The necessary transition to sustainable food cannot be made without mobilizing and supporting citizens and all agricultural, agrifood and food distribution players. We therefore call on the government to resist pressure from certain agricultural and agri-food lobbies and to follow the recommendations shared by scientists and civil society so that the National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate is up to the challenges. environmental issues, social justice and public health, in the interest of citizens and future generations.
Confirmed signatories
Action against Hunger
ADEIC (Association for the defence, education and information of consumers) – ULCC
Addiction France
Act for the Environment
Physician Alert on Pesticides (AMLP)
Planetary Health Alliance
Alternatiba
Altrimenti
Vegetable Plates
French Association of Dieticians-Nutritionists (AFDN)
Association Health Environment France (ASEF)
bee-friendly
Bioconsom’actors
Organic Fair Trade in France
Good for the Climate
Canteen without Plastic
CIWF France (Compassion in World Farming)
C2DS – Committee for Sustainable Development in Health
CLCV – Consumption, Housing, Living Environment
Collective I am a childcare nurse
The Feet in the Flat Collective
National Collective of Obese Associations (CNAO)
Collective Peps’l (Prevention Environment Health Professionals of the Lyon region)
Fair Trade France
Trade Union Confederation of Families
National Council of Secular Family Associations (CNAFAL)
Click
Families from France
Rural Families
Addiction Federation
French Federation of Diabetics
National Federation for Health Education and Promotion (FNES)
National Federation of Organic Agriculture (FNAB)
Foundation for Nature and Man (FNH)
Foodwatch France
France Nature Environment (FNE)
Future generations
Greenpeace France
Humanity and Biodiversity
Young Doctors
The Friends of the Peasant Confederation
Friends of the Earth
The Attics of Abundance
league against cancer
League against Obesity
Inter-regional movement of AMAP
Rural Christian Youth Movement (MRJC)
myLabel
Noah
National Plant Food Observatory (ONAV)
Oxfam France
For an ecological awakening
Climate Action Network
CIVAM network
Environment Health Network
Student Network for an Ecological and Solidarity Society (RESES)
French Network for Nature and Environmental Education (FRENE)
Ad Aggression Resistance
Wake
Francophone Society of Health and Environment (SFSE)
French Society of Public Health (SFSP)
French Cancer Society
SOL – Agroecological and solidarity alternatives
Earth and Humanism
UFC-What to choose
Union of Groups of Social and Solidarity Groceries (UGESS)
National Union of Family Associations (UNAF)
VRAC France (Towards a Common Purchasing Network)
WECF France (Women Engage in a Common Future)
welfare