AUSTRALIANS are eating themselves to death says the latest report released by the Public Health Association of Australia.

According to “A Future for Food 2”, food choices are one of the nation’s leading causes of environmental damage, with more than 30 per cent of Australia’s carbon footprint related to food production.

The PHAA has made an urgent call to the Federal Government to take responsibility for the crisis in our food system and establish a dedicated “Ministry of Food” with a position within Cabinet to drive cross-portfolio efforts.

PHAA CEO Michael Moore said obesity and other diet-related disease were evidence of a serious failure of the current food system and a “do nothing” approach will allow the system to slip into crisis.

“There is growing evidence that in Australia a poor diet contributes more to people being sick than any other single risk factor including tobacco and alcohol,” he said.

“Australians need to eat less and eat differently to address the sky-high rates of preventable diet-related disease.  The current food system is skewed towards energy dense foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt.  We need to make healthy food choices the easiest and most affordable option for all Australians.

“We have a situation where the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released draft Australian Dietary Guidelines without any guidance to inform environmentally sustainable food choices.”

According to PHAA Food and Nutrition spokesperson, associate Prof Heather Yeatman of Wollongong University public health nutrition has the responsibility to promote food that is not only healthy, but also environmentally sustainable.

“There is overwhelming evidence that certain diets and styles of eating impact more heavily on the environment than others.  Fortunately, an environmentally sustainable diet is also a diet that protects against preventable disease,” Prof Yeatman said.

“Moving toward a plant-based diet with smaller amounts of meat from sustainable sources; reducing consumption of highly processed foods – such as takeaway foods that rely on fossil fuel use in production, or use excess packaging – will help to achieve two goals:  reducing the incidence of diet-related disease and reducing the impact of the food system on the environment.”