Tribune. For several decades, the omnipresence of advertisements encouraging the consumption of ultra-processed products and harmful to health, and the methods of food production which have become highly industrialized, threaten the health of the French.
As a result, but also due to budgetary constraints, the price structure, or because the supply of fresh and organic products is insufficient or even non-existent in certain places of life, the French cannot consume enough fruit and vegetables. fresh vegetables and vegetable protein (such as pulses).
Conversely, we consume too many ultra-processed industrial products and products of animal origin (meat, dairy products, etc.), often of poor quality. This trend is alarming for its deleterious effects on our health. TheWHO and the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Handles) are categorical: the under-consumption of fresh products of plant origin and the over-consumption of products of animal origin, moreover when they are ultra-processed, promote obesity, cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers.
This trend is all the more unacceptable as it adds injustice to existing inequalities: the more income weakens, the more likely one is to be a victim of these “food diseases”, with the result of worsening inequalities. existing health social services.
Social inequalities in health
In addition, purchases of products of animal origin and industrial products weigh heavily on household food budgets and that of collective catering, which is an obstacle to improving the quality of the products consumed.
Promote the reduction of their consumption while promoting more fresh fruits and vegetables, pulses and products from better quality farms (meat guaranteed by official labels including organic, or from peasant farms, organic eggs and plein air…), in particular in collective catering, thus seems essential to us to ensure that everyone has access to healthier and more sustainable food.
The evolution of the plate towards “less and better” animal products is also essential to develop and support quality sectors of fruit and vegetables, pulses and livestock in France: today, a significant portion of the food consumed by the French is imported. This is particularly the case for meats offered by commercial catering and collective catering. Promoting the consumption of quality food and produced in the region is essential to facilitate the agroecological transition and to pay decent wages to French farmers.
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