An analysis by health institute Sciensano and KU Leuven suggests that Belgium should leverage stronger tools such as regulations and economic incentives to promote healthy and sustainable eating, rather than focusing solely on awareness campaigns.
Sciensano highlights that current eating habits significantly contribute to chronic diseases and negatively impact the environment and climate, stressing the need for a transition and providing over 150 recommendations.
The Belgian health institute notes the challenge posed by fragmented national policies, despite growing political attention to food environments. However, researchers have agreed on several areas such as restricting advertisements for unhealthy, unsustainable products, making public food procurement more sustainable, and granting more legal power to local authorities.
These shared ideas present opportunities for collaboration on a unified national vision, which is crucial for effective food policy in Belgium. This is especially important given that healthy and sustainable diets are largely absent from the new European strategy on agriculture and food, stressed research director Michiel De Bauw.
The report urges stronger inter-federal collaboration to enhance both horizontal coordination across sectors such as health, environment, agriculture, and education, and vertical coordination across different levels of government. It states that only well-coordinated and comprehensive management will address current and future food environment challenges, Sciensano concluded.
